


Key Quest: Air and Fire

by Cianscreator



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-11
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-25 21:49:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 31,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4977778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cianscreator/pseuds/Cianscreator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of Link continues. He has left the Kokiri Forest to pursue his destiny, one which seems to grow more and more complicated. At first, he was only told to find the Princess of Destiny. When he does, she sends him on a quest to find the remaining two Spiritual Stones (he already has the first). These are Keys that will open the Door of Time into the Sacred Realm...yes, more complicated, indeed.</p>
<p>With the help of his new friend and guide, Navi, Link set off to face new challenges, greater enemies, and who knows what else. For a ten-year-old boy, he certainly is being asked to accomplish a lot. But he was raised by a people who are ageless, and is more equal to those challenges than one might expect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Link was too upset to notice how long he ran, but he suspected it hadn’t been long at all before he was emerging into brilliant sunlight. Unprepared for this, he winced; the light in Kokiri Forest was soft and greenish, even at noon, and it took several long, unpleasant minutes for his eyes to adjust. When they did, he raised his head and looked around, curious. The tunnel of trees had brought him to into an area not unlike that which had led to the Meadow, with high, grassy walls on either side, a large tree growing at the start of the opening, and a path that curved around to the right.

“Where are we, Navi?”

“Hyrule Field. Let’s go!” Even in the near-blinding light, she was a brilliant glimmer.

Link began walking, only to be halted by a strange, rather frightening sight. On one of the higher limbs of a tree beside the path, an owl had perched. Not a cute little owl like the ones he’d seen peering at him from the greenery in the Lost Woods, either. Nope. This owl was huge, and was staring right at him.

He stared back, awed and not a little concerned. The thing could easily swoop down and snap his neck with that beak, and those talons - !

“Ah! Hello!”

“Okay…Navi, did that owl just say something?” he hissed out of the side of his mouth. Maybe the consequence of leaving the Forest was instant insanity.

“Yes, Link! That’s Kaepora Gaebora!”

_Great,_ he thought. _Navi’s lost her mind, too._ “You don’t say.”

“He’s a great sage, Link! Talk to him!”

Incredulous, Link nonetheless cleared his throat and looked up again. “Hello.”

“It appears the time has finally come for you to start your adventure!” said the owl, sounding jovial.

“I suppose.”

The owl did something weird with its head and continued in a more serious tone. “You will encounter many hardships ahead, Link.”

_It knows my name?!_ “I – er, oh. Why?”

“Because that is your fate. But don’t feel discouraged, even during the toughest times! Now, if you go straight this way …” he extended a wing to indicate the way the path continued, “…you will reach Hyrule Castle. And there, my boy, you will meet a Princess, which is why you’re going there at all.”

“Is she the ‘Princess of Destiny’?”

“Ah, so he was able to tell you that part, then. Good. Yes, she is.”

_He must mean the Great Deku Tree._ “Have – have I ever seen you before?”

“No, no. But you’ll be seeing me again! So tell me, young Link, have you understood your instructions, all that I’ve told you?”

It hadn’t been all that much, really, but Link didn’t want to point that out – it would be rude, he felt. So he simply nodded and said he had.

“All right, then! I’ll see you around! Hoot-hoot-hoot-ho!” This last bit didn’t sound at all like the noise a real owl would make. In fact, it sounded like a person imitating an owl.

How very odd. Before Link could reply, the great bird pushed away from the branch and flew off.

“Link!”

“Yes, Navi?”

“Let’s hurry! We don’t want to be caught in the field at night!”

“We don’t?”

“No! Hurry, Link!”

With a nod, he began trotting, but didn’t get far before coming to another halt. They’d topped a rise in the land that extended past the walls, and there, stretched out before him in various shades of green, was what had to be Hyrule Field. Without a doubt it was the biggest thing he’d ever seen, and looked like it went on forever. Slightly to his right and somewhat distant, he could see what looked like a massive stairway that led up into the foothills of a mountain. Ahead and also rather far away were the walls of a town. He wasn’t really sure, never having seen one before, but from all the things he’d been told, he suspected this was Hyrule Castle’s town. Trees dotted the field toward his left, up and down some pretty hilly terrain.

“Link!”

“I know, Navi. Hurry.” He smiled and started running. How amazing it was to be able to run for such a distance without having to worry about crashing into a wall or hitting a tree! Link had always longed to be able to run like this, and he did a few forward tumbles as he went, laughing, feeling totally free for the first time in his life. He stopped a few times to catch his breath, but honestly didn’t want to. A stream that looked like it originated from around the town flowed along on his left, and he drank from it before going the final stretch.

At this point he began to walk instead, a sudden weariness slowing his progress, and it was with mild shock that Link realized the sun was going down. How long had he been running? And was this field really so big that it had taken him all day to cross it? His stomach was gurgling its hunger now, too, but he decided to wait until he was inside the walls before having his meal.

Upon reaching the gates, Link saw that a wooden bridge crossed over the water, and was perplexed by the chains attaching it to the town’s stone walls. “Why are there chains, Navi?” he asked, as they went over the planks.

“It’s a drawbridge, Link! The chains pull it up at night so no one can get in after dark.”

“Why?”

“Oh, there are enemies out in the Field!”

His idea of enemies had been upgraded considerably since a day ago and he nodded. “Well, now what?” The man-made walls he was passing were impressive to his ten-year-old eyes, especially since he’d lived his entire life in nature.

“Let’s go in here, Link!”

“Here” was a wooden door leading into the first building on their right and not far from the drawbridge. Link pushed the door open, entered, and found himself in a room full of clay pots and several large wooden crates. At the far end stood a being unlike any he’d yet seen. Dressed in metal with a shiny metal hat, he was holding a tall pole with some sort of sharp metal tip mounted on the top. He was easily twice the boy’s height, unlike the Kokiri who only grew tall enough to look like, well, like ten-year-old children in size. Link approached the metal-clad man with caution, not sure what kind of reaction he’d get.

“Hello there, boy.”

Ah. _That_ kind of reaction. “Hello. Who are you?”

“Aw, just a guard.”

“Are you – you aren’t a Kokiri. What are you?”

“A Hylian, of course!” Even though the man towered over Link, he had a pleasant smile and nice eyes.

“The Forest is part of Hyrule, too, but its people aren’t Hylian.”

“Of course not, you funny kid! The Land of Hylia isn’t the same as Hyrule, now is it!”

“Oh. No, I suppose not. So…you’re a – a Hylian. What other kinds of, of people are there?”

“The Kokiri, of course, and humans. Well, and the Gorons. And the Zoras, naturally. I take it you haven’t gotten around very much.” He leaned down and peered more closely at Link. “Hmm. You could be a Kokiri, but I don’t know. You’re not small enough…but you do have a fairy, and you’re in green. Huh! I’d have to say you’re the most interesting thing to happen to me in a long time! Tell you what – this is a storage building that has some magical properties, and because I’m grateful to have this break in the monotony, I’ll let you have some fun here!”

“Fun?” How much fun was he supposed to have with pottery and boxes?

“Break as many of these as you like, and keep whatever you find in them!” He waved a hand at the room. “They’re full of rupees.”

“I don’t need rupees, but thank you.”

“Hey, wait – hear that?”

Link frowned. This guy was loopy. Hear what?

The guard laughed and nodded at a crate to his left. “Break that and see what’s in it. Don’t tell me you can’t hear it!”

Link went closer to the crate indicated and put an ear to its surface.

Scratchity-scratch! Scratchity-scratch!

Crap. A Skulltula – a Gold one, too, it sounded like. Why would this person think he should let the dang thing out?

“Get the medallion, Link!”

“All you have to do is go over there so you can get a running start, then roll into it.”

“Won’t that hurt?”

“Probably, but so what? You won’t die!”

Then _you_ do it, he wanted to say. “Er, sure. Why not?” It wasn’t like he’d hadn’t just been rolling out in the field…

“Oof! Ow!” A moment later he was sitting up amid a scattering of splintered wood and rubbing his right shoulder. His run toward the box had been a bit too fast, his tuck-and-roll a bit too late, and he’d slammed into the wall, hard. The box, he’d discovered, had broken apart much more easily than he ever would have guessed.

“Link! Get up! The Gold ‘tulla!”

Oh. _That_.  It was scratching a mere foot away, but he wasn’t frightened. After dealing with something the size of Gohma, no other arachnid would bother him again. “Right.” He stood, flexed his injured shoulder and took out the sling-shot.

Zing! Whack! Zing! Crunch! The ‘tula imploded and he picked up the resulting medallion.

“Hey, kid, that was great! You okay?”

Link resisted the urge to glare. “Thanks. I’m fine. Well, I should go now.”

“Aw, that’s too bad! You’re great company. Come back, all right?”

The boy nodded, not sure what to think about all that, gave the man a smile, and went out.

“Turn right, Link!”

_Since I wasn’t planning on leaving the town already by going left, Navi, that’s…argh._ “Thank you, Navi.”

They traveled between a row of buildings, their size a source of great fascination to the boy as he absently rubbed his injured shoulder, peering about with understandable curiosity while he walked. Ahead, he could see and hear more people and from what he could tell, they were all tall, like the guard.

Soon, the road led past the buildings and opened into a vast paved area with a circular fountain in the middle, boxed plants growing on either side of the road where it continued on the other side of the fountain. The entire space was bordered by other buildings, most of which had signs hanging over their doors – shops, something called an arcade, if he was reading the word right, and various businesses.

“This place is…I had no idea something like this existed, Navi!”

“Hyrule Castle Town is very different from your Village, yes! But we must find the Princess!”

So he’d been right about the identity of this place! “Is she here, in the town?”

“No, Link, she lives in the Castle! There!” She flew upward and when he followed her with his gaze, saw the spires of a massive structure off in the distance.

“Oh.” Oh, indeed. Talk about intimidating! “Um, could I look around here just a little bit first? I’m really hungry, Navi.”

She’d flown back to his shoulder. “Of course. I keep forgetting you have to eat.”

“Don’t you?”

“No, not in the same way. But hurry, please?”

He nodded and looked for a place to sit. To his right was a market booth surrounded by people, most of them talking, some of them lifting colorful folds of cloth from the booth’s table to examine it. Beyond that were a number of shops in a long row that ended at an alleyway. Some of the  individuals on that side of the square were walking about in couples or small groups, still others looking bored and going, it seemed, nowhere. A man dashing across, a sachel over one shoulder, disappeared into another alley at the other end. A woman was complaining to no one in particular about how her naughty dog had run off again, and she didn’t know what to do. A younger couple stood amid the crowd, their arms around each other, staring into each other’s eyes, clearly oblivious to everyone and everything around them.

To Link’s left stood a large building with a huge staircase running diagonally up along its front, a porch of some kind running the entire length of the upper floor. An old man in a long blue robe paced slowly before this structure, but spoke to no one. Two men were laughing about something near a tree, and everywhere there were small dogs that yapped at the crowd, running about and getting underfoot or being ignored.

What a confusing place! He found a spot on the fountain that wasn’t too close to anyone, and ate some of his fruit, continuing to watch the activity around him. Everyone was taller than the Kokiri, and he looked for differences that might show how Hylians were unlike humans – whatever _they_ were. After a while, he recognized a surprising dissimilarity; some individuals had regular, normal pointy ears, while others had ears that were slightly rounded at the top.

“How strange,” he murmured through the large walnut on which he was chewing. He hadn’t been able to see the guard’s ears because of the man’s helmet, so he wasn’t sure which race had ears like his.

“Excuse me, young man.”

He looked up to find the woman who had lost her dog staring down at him. She was even larger than the guard, at least in terms of girth. “Yes?”

“Have you seen a small, white dog?”

Link wasn’t sure what to say. There were dogs all over the market, many of which were white. Was she joking? “I’ve seen a few…”

“They’re nothing like _my_ dog!” She sounded affronted. “And of course, he’s the only one who answers to the name Richard.”

_Richard? What kind of name is_ that? Link wondered. “Well, no, I just got here, but I’ll look for him, if you wish.”

The woman nodded, appearing satisfied. “Wonderful. You do that, boy, and if you find him, bring him to my house and I’ll give you a reward.”

“Your…I don’t know where you live.”

“Go down the alley near the Happy Mask Shop, follow it around, and my door is the one not facing directly into the alley. Easy.” She smiled and trundled off, leaving Link speechless.

“We don’t have time to look for lost Richards!” Navi had turned an angry shade of dark pink.

Link stood, nodding. He’d finished eating, and wanted to get away from this noisy place, at least for now. It was overwhelming, and he knew he’d need time to adjust to being around so many people, all of whom were completely unlike him.

Except one…not far away and on the other side of the fountain stood a little girl with long red hair. She was about the same size as Link, and like him, was what he’d identified as “disproportionate.” Was she a Kokiri? No, he’d never seen her before, and couldn’t imagine any of them leaving the forest. Further, if she _had_ come from the forest, she certainly would have been dressed in green rather than the pastel frock she had on. And she wouldn’t be standing there looking so at ease, either, unless she’d lived here for a while. Curiosity was suddenly stronger than his desire to get away from the crowd, so he went around the curve of the fountain and stood in front of her.

“Oh! Hello.” She smiled.

“Hello. Who are you?”

“I’m Malon. My father owns Lon Lon Ranch. Why don’t you know that?”

“I’ve never been here before.” _Malon?!_ That name was even stranger than “Richard!” And what was a “ranch?”

“What’s your name?”

“Link.”

She giggled. “What a funny name! And…wow, is that a fairy? I’ve heard of such things but never saw one.”

Nope. Not a Kokiri. “Yes, she’s a fairy. I think your name is funny, too, and I’ve never seen a ranch. In fact, I never even heard of such a thing.”

“Why not? Where do you live – on the moon?”

“The...are there people here who do?” He couldn’t imagine something like that – for one thing, how would they have gotten to Hyrule?

“Oh, my! You really are a funny person, Link!” She broke into peals of laughter.

That she’d been joking about the moon thing became painfully clear, and he blushed, mortified at his own ignorance. “Heh-heh, yeah. I was fooling…” He cleared his throat. “Um, how do I get to the Castle?”

“The Castle! Why would you want to go there?”

“I have to meet the Princess.”

“I see.” She gave him a knowing look. “Of course. All the boys want to meet her. I hear she’s ever so pretty. Never saw her myself, but I guess it’s normal to think she is. Pretty, I mean.”

“No, that’s…I have to talk to her.”

Malon crossed her arms and looked down for a moment. When she looked back at him, her expression held unexpected worry. “Tell you what, Link. If you do get into the Castle grounds, look for my father. He went to deliver milk from our ranch early this morning and never came back. I’m afraid he got lazy and fell asleep or something. I’d like you to tell him to get home right now. Can you help me?"

“I don’t know. I’ll try.” And then I have to go find a dog named Richard…

“Thank you, Link! And good luck!” She picked up a basket that had been perched on the edge of the fountain, gave him a wave, and walked off into the crowd.

He waved back and headed away down the road that appeared to lead out of town and toward the distant Castle. That was when he realized something. Between spending time talking to the guard, having his meal, his brief encounter with the chubby woman, and the conversation with Malon, enough time had certainly passed for the sun to have gone down, yet it was still early twilight. What was going on? How was this even possible?

And then he thought of what he’d seen inside the Great Deku Tree. He was starting to realize that a lot more was possible than he had ever imagined.


	2. Chapter 2

Still smarting from his roll into the wall in the storage building, he’d stopped at some likely-looking grass on the way out of town, tore off a handful and placed it on his shoulder, then eaten a couple of blades. The pain disappeared, giving him one less thing to have to deal with or think about.

But now Link was muttering. So much information had been poured into his head over the past ten hours or so, he feared that if he didn’t let some of it out, his brain would explode. “Humans…what are they? Okay, they’re bigger than Kokiri, I suppose, because he lady with the missing dog had round ears, so she wasn’t a Hylian. On the other hand, I’m not sure the guard had ears like mine, but some of the people in the town did, and I could very well have it reversed. How confusing! But then there are, um, Morons? No, that’s not right. Ah! _Gorons!_ And those other things, Zor, uh, Zoras? Whatever. Wonder what _they_ look like? And magic, lots of magic, it seems. Like fairies and nature aren’t magic enough! Ha!”

“Link!”

“What!”

“Look at the sky!”

 _Now what_? “It’s – there’s nothing unusual there, Navi.”

“Yes, Link! It’s getting dark here!”

He stopped. She was right. Whereas the sun hadn’t seemed to move when he was in the town, it was most definitely making its descent now. He hurried forward, not exactly sure why.

“Look, Link! A gate!”

 _Oh, you mean that stretch of metal bars across the opening between two huge boulders?_ “Yes, Navi. And a guard, too.” At least he assumed so since the man was wearing a suit of metallic clothes like the guard in the storage building.

“Good evening, young sir,” the man greeted when Link was closer.

“Good evening. Tell me, please – are you a guard? And are you Hylian?”

“Yes to both.”

“Could I see your ears?”

The man gave him a disconcerted look, but then his expression cleared and he smiled. “You must be from the forest. I understand you Kokiri-types don’t get out too often, eh?” He removed his headgear, revealing a pair of nicely pointed ears.

Link nodded. “So I was right. Humans have round-topped ears.”

“That they do. Now tell me what I can do for you, my boy.”

“I’m supposed to go see the Princess. Could you let me in?”

After gaping for a second, the man burst out laughing. “You’re a funny one, you are! See the Princess! Ha! You…wait.” He sobered instantly. “You’re serious, aren’t you.”

“Of course.”

“And who sent you? Some other kid, maybe?”

“No. The Great Deku Tree. Am I supposed to pay you?”

The guard shook his head. “No one gets by without a Royal Order. I’m sorry this Deku fella misinformed you. Now, if you wait a week or so, you might catch a glimpse of our Princess when she goes through town for the Mid-Summer Parade.”

“You don’t understand. There’s evil, and bad things are going to happen, and I have to – ”

“Look, kid, it’s getting late and you should be home in bed soon. Now go on. It’s been fun chatting with you, but I need to get back to work.” With that, he slapped the silver covering back on his head, stood straighter, and turned away.

“Come on, Link!”

“But – ”

“Listen! We have to go!” Navi turned reddish and began twinking up and down in front of him.

“Fine.” This was most upsetting.

When they were a few feet from the guard, Navi said, “I think there’s another way in!”

“Fine.” Link was getting discouraged. None of this was going the way he thought it would, and as he tried to work out his next possible move, he stared at the ground without seeing it.

In fact, he wasn’t seeing much at all, which explained why he suddenly crashed into a tree and landed on his backside. “Ow!”

Thud! Scratchity-scratch. Scratchity-scratch.

“Link! Look out! A Gold ‘tula!”

 _Really, Navi?_  He got up and rubbed his rear. _Where was your warning to look out when I was about to hit that tree? Crap._ Drawing his Sword, Link slashed angrily at the ‘tula, and a moment later collected its medallion.

“This way, Link!”

He growled in her general direction, but followed her around an outcropping of rock.

“Hello, again! Did you find my father?” It was Malon, who may have been on her way to find the man herself.

“Sorry, no. I couldn’t get past the guard to get in.”

“I thought that might happen. See these vines?” She turned and indicated a trail of them leading up the side of the outcropping. “If you climb them, you’ll find a way in but you have to be careful. Do this for me, and I’ll give you a cool gift!”

He didn’t want a gift. He wanted to see the Princess. But maybe if he talked to Malon’s father about getting into the Castle, the man could help him. “Okay.”

The girl clapped her hands, her face lighting with a grin. At her feet was the basket he’d seen her retrieve from the edge of the fountain; she reached inside and took out what looked like a nest holding a large egg. “This is a Weird Egg. Keep it warm, and it will soon hatch for you!”

Great, he thought. What am I supposed to do with whatever comes out of it? Eat it? Bleh. And why is it called a “weird” egg?

“Take it!”

Navi had remained silent, and for the first time, Link was finding her lack of chatter as irritating as her redundant instructions. Caught between the strangeness of Hyrule Town, the girl’s bizarre offering, and concern about Navi, he decided simply to take the egg and leave. What the heck. “Sure.” He put out his hands and she placed the nest tenderly in them.

“Take good care of this, Link.”

Well! This was the second thing he’d been told that day to take good care of! But at least he could stuff the ocarina in a pocket – the nest…no.

He must have looked as much at a loss as he felt, because Malon giggled again and leaned closer, whispering, “Link, it’s a magic egg! It will shrink to fit in one of your bag-things, nest and all!”

He gave her a crazy look. Was she serious? One way to find out… “Woah! That’s – that’s amazing!”

She giggled again. “Hurry now, Link!”

You sound like Navi, he thought at her. “Right. Thank you, Malon.”

“You, too, Link! Good-bye!” And then she stood there, staring up at the sky.

It didn’t take long for him to interpret all that as a nice way to tell him to get going; sighing, he went to the vine and hoisted himself up. The climb wasn’t far, and he reached the top in a matter of seconds.

Level ground stretched in front of him that led to the top of the gate. Thinking it might not be a good idea to be seen up there, he scooted past where he thought he might be visible to the guard, avoiding an opening in the top of the gate support in which he’d noticed a ladder. For all he knew there would be others down there. No point in even trying to go down that way. Besides, he had another problem.

The distance from where he stood and the ground below was considerable; the idea of jumping wasn’t appealing. Still, what choice did he have?

“Jump, Link!”

He did – not down, though. He’d been concentrating so hard on his dilemma that he’d forgotten all about Navi, and her tinkling voice in his ear startled the daylights out of him. “It’s awfully far.”

“Don’t you remember what the Scrub told you? Tuck your head in by your knees right before you hit the ground, and roll!”

Link tried to picture himself doing so, and all he could imagine was a landing that would end badly.

“I suppose we could stay here all night,” said Navi. “Or maybe you could build a little cottage right where you’re standing, and – ”

“Be quiet, Navi.” There. He’d said it. “I’ll jump, then, shall I? Yes. Of course. Probably break something. Not the egg, though. Nope. That will survive, I’m sure, because it’s magic. Unlike me…” After a last quick look over the edge to make sure he wouldn’t land on anything sharp, Link gritted his teeth and jumped.

The whole tuck-and-roll thing worked a lot better than he’d expected. In fact, he was uninjured and standing upright a few seconds later. A bit wild-eyed, but unhurt. “Wow,” he whispered.

“Bet you can’t wait to do that again, eh, Link?”

“You’re very odd, Navi.” He’d almost said “insane,” but that would have been mean. “Now what?”

“Stay there, Link!” The fairy flew ahead, returning a moment later. “More guards around the side of this hill,” she reported. “Climb up here, but stay to the right!”

He obeyed, moving as quietly as he could which, as a child of the forest, wasn’t all that hard to do. Once at the top, he realized a guard was standing only a few feet away, but his back was to Link so the boy ducked behind a nearby tree. The guard continued to stand there for a while, eventually moving off in a different direction.

Navi had gone ahead once more, and when she came back, led Link away in a diagonal line from the tree that took him parallel with an embankment rising up in front of the Castle walls. No guards could be seen in this area, so Link broke into a run, finally reaching some more vines he could climb to bring him up closer to his goal. After cresting the rise, he jumped down and would have continued along a walkway there, except for the unexpected presence of two more guards.

“Get into the water, Link!”

Something that looked to him like a man-made river was directly to his left; without hesitation, he lowered himself into the water, making as little splash as possible. “What is this, Navi?” The sun was gone now, and the water wasn’t at all warm.

“They call it a moat. Swim to the end down there. I see a spot where you can get out without being seen.”

His teeth had begun to chatter, so he swam hard for the far end. He could barely make it out in the evening gloom, and had to hope it was fairly close.

It was actually much farther than he’d anticipated, but he was somewhat warmed by the strenuous nature of the swim itself. When he climbed out at last, the chill night air accosted him and he blew on cold hands, then wrung as much water out of his tunic as he could.

“This way!”

“Huh?” He looked up from his task, shivering. The pavement turned to the left, following the line of the wall. Ahead, he made out some dark shapes, but nothing he could identify yet.

“Hurry, Link!”

“Why? It’s dark, Navi. I doubt I can get anywhere now.”

She made a small jingling sound that somehow seemed to indicate exasperation.

“All right.” He smoothed out the hem of his tunic so it wouldn’t stay wrinkled from being twisted so hard. “Let’s go.”

Once again the fairy flew ahead, Link following. As he reached the area where the dark shapes sat, the moon arose. In its light, the shapes became large wooden crates, each with the silhouette of a horned creature’s head burned into its side.

Nothing strange about that, really, except that he had no idea what the symbols represented. What _was_ strange was the portly man lying on his side on the ground, snoring.

Must be Malon’s father, Link concluded. He nudged the man gently with one foot and was rewarded with a huge snort, some grumbling, and then…nothing. The man slept on, his snores a little louder.

“Wake him up, Link!”

“No, I’d better not. What if he gets upset and calls the guard? I’ll just wait until morning.” He went to one of the crates and sat, his back against its still-warm surface, and closed his eyes. It had been a long day.


	3. Chapter 3

Neither the sun against his closed lids nor the chirping of the early birds was what awoke Link. Nor was it the natural end of his sleep-cycle. Quite simply, he fell over.

“Hey! Woah!” He jerked upright again and stared around wildly at the unfamiliar surroundings.

“We’re outside the Castle walls, Link,” Navi reminded him.

“What? What? We…oh. Thank you, Navi.” He stood, stretched, and became aware of a sound that reminded him of someone sawing down a dead tree. A second later, he saw Talon, who was in the same position he’d been lying in the night before.

Before Link could do anything or even think about what he should do, another sound assaulted his ears. Loud, somewhat raucous, it came from his satchel, startling him so badly he nearly jumped into the water in an effort to get away from himself.

“It’s the egg, Link!”

“What?” He had to stop saying that, he thought briefly, almost at the same time remembering the “weird” egg Malon had given him. “Oh.” He nodded, waited for his heart to stop hammering at the inside of his chest, and drew it out.

A small white chicken sat in the nest. The bird turned, stared up at him, and crowed again, this time even louder since its sound was no longer muffled.

“What in tarnation?!” Talon had finally woken up, and had jumped to his feet, looking extremely unhappy. “Can’t a person get a little shut-eye around here?”

“Um, sir? You were sleeping on the ground,” Link pointed out politely. “Since last night, in fact.”

“What’s that? Oh. I…hello. And who might you be?”

“My name is Link, sir. Are you Talon?”

“I am. I fact, I’m the owner of the Lon Lon Ranch, in case you’re wondering.” He raised his arms over his head, stretching, and opened his mouth in a huge yawn. “Yep, yep, yep. Came here to the Castle to deliver some milk.” He straightened his tunic and looked around for a second. “Guess I sat down here to rest, and fell asleep, heh! Now what was that awful noise that woke me up?”

Link held out the nest. “Your daughter, Malon, gave me this. She’s worried about you, sir, and asked me to try and find you.”

“Eh? Malon is looking for me? Uh-oh.” He shook his head, eyes widening in sudden alarm. “I’m gonna catch it from her now!” He wrung his hands, his face scrunching up in a grimace that made the nostrils of his bulbous nose flare in a most unattractive way. “I messed up bad, didn’t I…never should have left Malon behind to wait for me. Aw, dang it! Gotta go, kid – she’s _really_ gonna let me have it for this!” Without saying good-bye, he took off at top speed, arms pumping at his sides. He rounded the corner and disappeared from view.

“Malon must be scary when she’s angry,” Link mused aloud. “Remind me not to upset her if I see her again, Navi.”

“Hmph! She’s a little girl – how scary could she be?”

“I don’t know. You’re a little fairy, but you can be intimidating when you’re angry.”

“I can?”

_Not really._ “Sure.” He sensed it was making the creature glad to hear this.

“Oh!”

_So now what?_ The man’s reaction had made it impossible to have a conversation with him, and Link had forgotten to ask Talon if he could help him get into the Castle.

“Look! There’s an opening over there, Link!”

“Where?”

“In the wall!”

He looked, not happy about its location. “Great. That moat-thing is between me and the wall, Navi, and it’s too far up from the water to reach. Plus, there’s water coming out of it. How – oh, wait.” He went to the nearest crate and gave it an experimental nudge. The thing was heavy, but not impossibly so.

He pushed harder, and it began to move. “Aha!” Getting on the other side, he began shoving it toward the edge of the walkway directly opposite the opening in the Castle wall. A moment later it dropped over the edge and into the water, its top only a few inches lower than the walkway.

“I think another one…” Link ran to the next box and moved it along, giving it a final push so it landed on top of the first crate. He climbed up, calculated the distance, and jumped.

The opening was small, perhaps a bit lower than the one in the wall of the Kokiri Village training ground, but wider, and he was able to crawl through without removing either the Sword or shield on his back. The distance was no longer than the actual width of the wall, and as Link stood up on the other side, he wrung out of the hem of his tunic, wiping his hands across his chest to dry them when that was done. Nothing could be done about the water dripping down his legs into his boots, so he didn’t bother trying.

Well-tended lawns stretched to either side of the area in which he found himself. Directly to his right and several feet away was a wall with a door. Probably not a good idea to open it, he decided. To his left, another wall could be seen several yards farther. But straight ahead, things were much more promising, despite the sound of marching feet coming from somewhere out of view.

A flagstone-paved path went forward for a considerable distance, a stretch of hedge beside it on Link’s right that formed a high barrier. As he neared this, the footsteps grew louder. They clanged a little, reminding Link of the metal suits the guards wore. The steps came closer, and a second later, the top of a spear moved past the other side of the hedge. Link shrank back, flattening himself against the greenery. If the guard came around the side of the hedge…

No, the spear (and the guard holding it, he assumed) halted a few inches from the end of the hedge, and now he heard the steps moving away, perpendicular to the direction from which they’d come. The guard was obviously circling something on that side.

Link tip-toed to the end of the hedge and peered, cautious, around its corner. He’d been right – the back of a metal-clad guard met his gaze. He couldn’t yet see what else was there, but as soon as the man turned right, Link crept out from behind the hedge and scooted quickly forward. Now he could see more hedges on his right, growing in a rectangular box shape beside the path and set back a little.

The guard’s progress was marked by the movement of his spear-tip; Link could see he’d be coming back around the other side, so he zoomed ahead past the wall jutting out beyond this area, and ducked behind it.

Another side-ways planted hedge blocked the next space, but he could see statues towering over the top and hear the gentle flow of water. A twin fountain, meaning a longer distance. Crap.

“What time does the shift end today?” asked a voice.

“In about an hour,” answered another.

“Ah. Good. My feet are killing me.”

Drat! There were at least two of them this time, Link concluded. He looked up to see if their spears were visible, but this hedge was even higher. He’d have to use his ears and some logic if he were to get past these guards.

“They’ve gone from the front of the fountain, Link! You can go now!”

And Navi. He nodded, went around the hedge, and ran as quietly as he could past the fountains. When he got to the next area, he had to stop to catch his breath. The distance hadn’t been far at all, but his heart was pounding so hard, he was finding it hard to breathe.

This time, he had to deal with a large pergola, which he could barely make out through the tight branches and leaves of the next hedge. Vines were growing up and over the structure, and a set of wooden steps led up to the top of the hedge, which was nearly twice as tall as the one before. How could _that_ work? Link hadn’t had a whole lot of dealings with hedges, but common sense told him that walking on one would be impossible. He’d fall right through the stupid thing! Why ever would they put steps next to one?

“Go up the steps, Link!”

Okay, so maybe there was more to this. He climbed, keeping an eye on the one guard walking about underneath. When he got to the last step, he saw that the top of the hedge was even with the top of the pergola. He had only to step over the greenery and he’d be standing on one of the structure’s beams. Which would have been terrific, were it not for the beam being only slightly wider than one of his feet. Was he supposed to walk across on that?

“Link –”

“Don’t say it, Navi!” he whispered. Wonderful. Well, balancing on narrow things had never been difficult, but falling off things in Kokiri Village never meant getting captured by a huge guard and possibly thrown into prison. They didn’t have prisons in the forest, but he’d heard about them from the Know-It-All Brothers. One of them had a non-Kokiri acquaintance who’d been locked up in some place he called the Gerudo Valley. He’d made it sound awful and creepy, too.

Well, there was no choice, it seemed. He stepped onto the beam, got his balance, and went forward, his steps slow. Below him he could hear the guard’s metallic tread, but didn’t dare look down or pause to see if he’d been noticed. He was sure he’d hear a shout or something if that happened.

He made it across without mishap, but his elation faded when he realized there were no steps on this side. He’d have to jump down, and would probably make enough noise to attract the guard’s attention. Now what? He turned, watching the guard for a while, until it occurred to him that if he waited until the man was at the far side of the structure, there’d be less chance of him hearing the landing.

A few seconds later, the boy saw his opportunity and jumped, hitting the ground as lightly as he could and rolling forward. Then he froze, waiting, but heard no indication that he’d been detected.

His next challenge took the form of two guards circling a huge monument of a man with a crown (probably a king, Link assumed), his stately figure flanked by a two women doing a dance of some kind. The boy found it quite silly, and almost laughed as he watched the pattern of the guard’s movements. Unlike the previous pair who stayed distant from each other, one of them walked to the end of the monument while the other stayed where he was for a few moments, peering around. Then this second guard joined his partner, so the first could walk to the next corner of the monument. They continued the pattern, making it clear Link would have to wait until guard number one had gone to the far end of the back of the monument and guard number two had left his corner to join him.

As soon as this occurred, Link sprinted across the front, hoping he’d be fast enough to get past the wall on the far side before the first guard got to his front corner again. He did, but now had a totally different configuration of hedges, statues, fountains and guards with which to contend. The pathway came to an end a few feet ahead, making it necessary to enter an area to his right that looked like a kind of maze.

“Ooh, look, Link! It’s a maze!”

He almost swatted her. “Thank you, Navi,” he grated. Link knew about mazes from the crazy way the Lost Woods behaved, and from doing puzzles with Saria. She would draw one on the ground with a sharp stick, and he’d have to follow the paths with his finger and see if he could figure out the way through without hitting a barrier. This maze didn’t look nearly as complicated as the ones Saria drew. In fact, from what he could see through the tangle of branches and leaves, it wasn’t really a maze at all. The path simply wove in and around a series of long hedges, which would make getting through both easier and more problematic.

The “easy” was having hedges to hide behind. The “problematic” was not being able to predict when a guard would come around one of them and find him.

“Navi – can you fly ahead and tell me when it’s safe to go?”

“Of course! Be right back!”

She guided him around the first set of greenery, then the next, and then disappeared for a few seconds. When she returned, she zoomed right up to his ear and screamed, “Run!”

One hand to his ringing ear, he took off at top speed, got to the end of the path, and went the only way available – a sharp left turn into what looked like a kind of wide tunnel. He flattened himself against the left wall and glared at Navi. “Don’t ever shriek in my ear like that again, please.” He swallowed, trying to catch his breath. “It hurt.”

“Sorry, Link. I was worried you’d get caught – there were four guards, and one of them was about to walk behind the hedge where you were standing.” She’d turned lavender, a color he hadn’t seen around her before, and wondered if that meant she was very sad.

“It’s okay. I appreciate you keeping me safe, Navi.”

The lavender faded into a restful blue, the color in which she was normally bathed when not in some state of agitation. “My pleasure, Link! Ooh! Look! A garden!”

“Huh?” He straightened and turned. At the end of the passage was a wide swath of green dotted here and there with circular flower beds. “Nice.” Walking forward and checking over his shoulder periodically, he headed for this, soon realizing that there was nowhere else to go once he got there.

Windowed walls faced the garden on three sides. At the end and straight ahead was a set of four or five steps that ended in a wide paved area under a single, huge window. Something else was there, too, but it wasn’t until he was almost halfway across the garden that he realized it was a small person. A girl person, if the clothing was any indication.

She was wearing a white, pink and blue dress that covered her feet, a pastel scarf-like thing on her head, and she was looking in the window. He approached her slowly, not wanting to startle her, but as soon as he reached the top, she gasped and turned around.

“What?! W-who…who are you? And how did you get past the guards?”

At first, Link was unable to answer. The girl was absolutely beautiful, more so even than Saria. Her features were delicate, her eyes the most amazing shade of turquoise, her lips…he gulped. Was this what Saria felt when she looked at _him_?

She raised an eyebrow, and suddenly seemed to relax, but continued to wait in silence for his answer.

“Uh.” Link cleared his throat and tried again. “I kind of sneaked past them, actually. And…and Navi helped me.” He nodded sideways at the fairy twinkling over his shoulder.

“Oh. What – what’s that? Navi, you said? Is that a…a fairy?!”

Link nodded.

“Then you are…from the forest, yes?” She took a step closer. “You wouldn’t happen to have the Spiritual Stone of the Forest, would you? It’s a shiny green stone. Do you have it?”

How had she known about that? Curious, he shook his head in the negative, more to see how she’d react than to be ornery.

“No?” She frowned. “Well, that’s odd. I thought you might be the one from my dream.” She looked away, biting her lip. When she looked back, her eyes were narrowed. “You really don’t have it? Come on!” Her eyes were twinking now. “Tell me the truth – do you have it?”

He relented. What a clever person! “Yes, I have it.” He gave her a crooked smile.

She clapped her hands and laughed. “Just as I thought!” Her own smile had a dimple in it, and Link decided – somewhere in his ten-year-old head that was too mature for its own good – that he would go to the ends of the earth for this girl.

“But how did you know that?” he asked, wanting to keep the conversation going forever.

“I had a dream.” She stood a little straighter and cast a quick glance behind at the window before continuing in a lower voice. “In this dream, dark storm clouds were billowing over the Land of Hyrule.” She shivered. “But suddenly, a ray of light shot out of the forest to the west, parting the clouds. From the opening it left, something even brighter lit up the ground, and at first that was all I could see. But then the light turned into a figure holding a green, shiny stone, and was followed by a fairy.” She stopped and stared at Navi for a moment. “Anyway, because it was so real, I knew this was a prophecy – I’ve had them before, you see, and was told how to know the difference between a regular dream and one that foretold something.”

“And what was this foretelling?”

“That someone would come from the forest, so of course, I thought you might be the one. And this person – oh! I am so sorry! I got carried away with my story and everything, and didn’t even introduce myself properly!” She squared her shoulders, changing her stance to something that made Link feel like he should bow. “I am Zelda,” she told him with great solemnity. “Princess of Hyrule. What is your name?”

Gulp. “Link.”

She repeated it a few times. “Hmph. Strange. It sounds somehow…familiar.” Zelda seemed to shake off whatever it was nagging at her subconscious. “Okay, then! Link, I’m going to tell you the secret of The Sacred Realm, a secret that has been passed down by the Royal Family of Hyrule. Please keep this a secret from everyone. It goes like this.”

As she began, he found himself wondering if it was the same story as the one the Great Deku Tree had told him, since his tale had also involved the Sacred Realm. Not that it mattered. He would have listened happily even if she’d started talking about how pretty the flowers looked. Soon, however, he realized her story was not the same at all.


	4. Chapter 4

Link stood respectfully as the Princess spoke. He would have preferred sitting down, but since she wasn’t, he didn’t think he should be, either. Besides, he was really enjoying the fact that she spoke to him with the confidential air of a long-time friend.

Zelda began by making sure he knew what the Triforce was, then told him the rest. “The three Goddesses, as you probably know, hid the Triforce, which contained the power of the gods, somewhere in Hyrule. Now this power is simple – it grants the wish of whoever holds the Triforce in his or her hands. Naturally, if that person has a righteous heart, Hyrule will be led into a golden age of prosperity. But if someone with an evil mind has his or her wish granted, the world will be consumed by evil! Well, that is what has been foretold. So the ancient Sages built the Temple of Time to protect the Triforce from evil ones.”

“Excuse me – is this Temple the huge building I saw on the edge of town when I was heading here?”

“That’s right. The Temple of Time is the entrance through which you can enter the Sacred Realm from our world.”

Link put his head to one side, thinking. “But…then anyone can just go into the Temple and get into the Sacred Realm, right?”

“Oh, no. Inside the Temple, the actual entrance is sealed with a stone wall called The Door of Time. In order to open it, they say you need to collect three Spiritual Stones.”

So _that_ was why she’d called the Kokiri Emerald a “spiritual stone!” he thought. “And then what?”

“Well, as the legend goes, you need one final part of the key to enter – the Royal Family Treasure!”

A mosquito landed on his arm and bit him. He swatted at it, scratched, and nodded. “What’s the treasure? Another kind of stone?”

“Oh, no, Link! Something much better – The Ocarina of Time!”

He thought about Saria’s ocarina, and wondered how such a simple instrument could be of such great importance. Perhaps the Royal Family’s ocarina was made of some precious metal, or had jewels on it, or –

“Oh! I almost forgot!”

“Yes?”

She gestured at the window. “Before you came, I was, well, I was spying through this window.” She blushed. “I know better than to behave that way, and my father would be appalled, but…it’s the other element of my dream. The dark clouds.”

There were dark clouds inside the Castle? “What, er, what do you mean?” he asked, not wanting to appear stupid but flummoxed by her words.

“I believe they’re a symbol, that they represent a horrible man who has been spending time with the King. This window looks into the Throne Room, and the man is in there right now, talking to my father.” She stepped away from the window and half-whispered, “Would you look at him? Tell me what you think?”

He almost asked her why, since after all he was only a boy from the Kokiri Forest who knew nothing about all this legend and royal stuff, but didn’t. The look she was giving him was so full of hope, something else that confused him. With a shrug, Link nodded and went to the window. Which nearly caused a disaster – he had never encountered glass before, and knew nothing about windows glazed with it. It was a good thing, then, that only his fingertips hit it when he went to grasp the sill.

Pulling his hands back, he looked with surprise at the window, then at his smarting fingers, and finally reached out a hand, palm up, until it came to rest against the glass. Cool and smooth, this was not magic. But what –

“Our windows are covered in glass, Link. You probably don’t need it in the forest. But here, we get some rather heavy rains, and what we have inside would be damaged if it got wet. Besides, the glass keeps people inside from hearing things outside.” She smiled.

_How kind you are_. “I see. Thank you.” Because there had been no smugness in her explanation or voice, he didn’t feel embarrassed about his ignorance. Grateful, he returned his attention to the window.

At first, all he saw were two guards standing against the far wall, a dark blue carpet like a fuzzy river going down the center of the room from left to right, nothing more. A second later, someone walked into view along the carpet – a tall, powerful-looking man with red hair, eyes that somehow gave the impression of slyness, of evil. He stopped when he was directly in front of the window and went to one knee before whoever was in front of him and to Link’s right.

One hand crossed over the man’s chest in a gesture of fealty and he bowed his head, the jewels on dark, silver-studded leather armor, and a single red one in his ear sparkling in the room’s light.

“Who is he?” Link whispered, not sure why he was doing so. Surely the man wouldn’t hear him at this distance, and with a glass-covered window between them as well.

“His name is Ganondorf,” she said, her voice trembling. “He’s the leader of the Gerudo, who hail from far in the west.”

The Gerudo…Gerudo Valley…Link didn’t like the sound of that at all, especially after the way the Know-It-Alls had described their prison.

“Even though he swears allegiance to my father,” Zelda was saying, “I’m sure he isn’t sincere. I believe the dark clouds in my dream symbolize that man!”

Link leaned a little closer to try and see him better, but the man suddenly turned, his eyes boring into the boy’s, and an ugly smile split the man’s dark face. Startled, Link jumped back, his own eyes wide.

“What happened?” Zelda took his hand, her expression filled with alarm. “Did he see you?”

_She’s holding my hand! Wow!_ “Y-He did.”

“Oh, dear. Not that I think you should worry. He has no idea what we’re planning. Not yet, anyway.”

_We?!_ How wonderful that little word sounded when she said it! He suppressed an urge to clap his hands and start skipping. “Ah.” That sounded clever. Right. And then something occurred to him. “Hold it – you didn’t tell your father any of this, did you?”

“What – about my dream? Of course. I always tell him! Especially if I think something bad will happen to our people, or to the land. He is King, after all, and needs to know such things.” She sighed, dropped his hand, and turned away, her back to the window. “I don’t think he believes it was a prophecy, though.” Now she sounded sad. “Oh, Link, even if I’m wrong about that, I still think that man’s intentions are evil. Ganondorf must be after nothing less than the Triforce itself! I’m sure he’s trying to find a way into the Sacred Realm! Why else would a Gerudo come to Hyrule? They _never_ leave the desert! I wouldn’t be surprised if he were trying to conquer Hyrule – the whole world, in fact.”

“And you told your father this, too?”

She nodded, visibly upset. “It looks like only you and I can protect Hyrule now.” Turning toward him once more and grabbing both of his hands this time, she asked, “Do you believe me, Link?”

Had the Deku Tree not told him about his having a destiny, or that he had to seek out and speak with the Princess of Destiny who had to be Zelda, or about the Triforce, and had he not faced the evil of Gohma and those disgusting plants, he might have hesitated. Perhaps even considered the girl a bit daffy. But he’d been prepared for this, and besides…she was hold his hands, squeezing them, and he was elated in a way that left him short of breath. How very, very strange. He had no idea what that meant, but knew he believed every word of her story. So he nodded. “I do – I believed you.”

“Oh, thank goodness!” She gave him a quick hug that nearly made his knees buckle, then released him. “I’m so afraid, Link. I have a feeling that man is going to destroy Hyrule.”

“How?”

“He has a terrifying power – I can feel it.” She put out a hand and touched his cheek, unaware that the gesture nearly caused him to faint. “It’s good that you’re here, Link, that you came to the Castle. I knew you would. We cannot let Ganondorf get the Triforce!”

“W-what can we do to stop him?” His voice came out about an octave too high and he felt himself redden.

“Simple. I will protect the Ocarina of Time with all the power I have,” she said, nothing in her response indicating she’d noticed his discomfiture. “He shall _not_ get his hands on it! In the meantime, you must find the other two Spiritual Stones. Then together, we can get the Triforce before Ganondorf does, and defeat him!”

_Yeah! We’ll…oh, boy. I need to sit down._

She dropped his hands again and turned away once more, reaching into a pocket in the elegant apron covering the front of her gown. “One more thing, Link.” She took out a folded piece of paper, opened it, and scribbled something inside with a red-tipped stylus. “Here – take this letter. I’m sure it will be helpful.”

He took it from her, noticing the creamy paper was thick and embossed with some kind of symbol. His reading skills had been limited to the signs around the Kokiri Village, so he didn’t even try to make out what the spidery writing inside said. “What is this for?”

“You must show it to anyone who questions you about where you are or what you are doing.”

“Oh.”

She smiled. “Thank you, Link. My Attendant will show you safely out of the Castle so you won’t have to deal with the guards again. She…she’s somewhat intimidating, I’m afraid, but please don’t be afraid to talk to her.”

“I – sure. No, I won’t. I mean, uh, you’re welcome. I’ll just be going now, shall I? Yes.” He’d been backing up as he spoke, and had Navi not whispered the word “step” into his hear, he would have fallen backwards down the stairs. Mortified, he turned and went quickly down, crossing the garden with no dignity whatsoever.

Not until he was almost at the breezeway entrance did he stop, and that was only because someone tall and frightening was standing there, her arms crossed over the biggest bosom he’d ever seen. She had white hair pulled back into a ponytail but didn’t look at all old. With a muscular physique that rivaled that of every man he’d met so far, her clothing consisted of a very un-womanly pair of tight trousers and boots, a blue, skin-tight corset over a low-cut, short-sleeved blouse. At her waist was a belt to which an extremely long sword had been attached. Link almost screamed.

“I am Impa of the Sheikah,” she informed him, not bothering with any other greeting. “I am responsible for protecting Princess Zelda.”

_And I bet you do a grand job of it, too,_ Link said with his eyes, too cowed to speak.

“Everything is exactly as the Princess foretold.”

_How did you know what she told me? How – oh, I see. She probably told you about it, too…_

And then, without warning, the woman’s expression softened and she gave Link a kind of admiring smile. “You’re a courageous boy.”

_No I’m not,_ he thought. _I almost wet myself just now._

“You’re heading out on a big, new adventure, aren’t you.”

_Crap! Was that a question? Am I supposed to answer her?_

“I was in the Princess’ dream, too, you know. My part is to teach a melody to the one from the forest.”

That shocked him into speech. “It is?”

“Indeed. Pay attention – this is an ancient melody passed down by the Royal Family.”

Apparently, this Royal Family passed down all kinds of things –

Impa was speaking again. “I have played this song for Princess Zelda as a lullaby ever since she was a baby. There is mysterious power in these notes, so listen carefully.” The woman put two fingers to her lips and blew through them, producing a melody that sounded strident, but which he suspected would sound pleasant when played on an instrument.

When she was done, she gave him an expectant look. Before Navi could tell him to try playing it on his ocarina, he took it out. Closing his eyes, he brought to mind what he’d watched Saria do, how she placed her fingers and which configuration produced which tones. Because the instrument was so simple, it didn’t take much to figure out how to reproduce Impa’s melody, so he played it slowly, carefully, and right.

“Very good, boy. Seems you have some talent with that thing. You learned Zelda’s lullaby – don’t ever, ever forget it.”

He stared down at the ocarina in his hands, somewhat surprised at how easily he’d played it, but then looked up at Impa. “I won’t,” he promised.

“Good. You know, if the Castle soldiers find you, there will be trouble. Let me lead you outside.”

He followed her through a doorway to the right of the tunnel, and then down a series of corridors. They went up a set of narrow stairs, down a wider set, through some more doors, and finally out through the door onto the walkway where he’d encountered Talon. The crates had been removed, he noticed as they walked by, and he wondered how they’d gotten them out of the water. In fact, he wondered how anyone even knew they were there.

They did meet a couple of guards after this when they got to the other side, but Impa glared at both of them and shook her head. They backed away and let her and Link pass.

Link didn’t want to know what she was like when she was angry.

A short time later, they stood outside the walls of Hyrule Town and Impa stared around at the field, her eyes distant. Link waited in respectful silence, not moving, not wanting to die…

“You brave lad,” she said at last, her voice so wistful and faint it took a few seconds before Link realized she meant him.

_Why is she calling me that? She doesn’t even know me!_

“We must protect this beautiful land of Hyrule!” She pointed ahead at the spot where she’d been staring. “Take a look at that mountain, boy. That’s Death Mountain, home of the Gorons.”

Death _Mountain? Oh, great._

“They hold the Spiritual Stone of Fire.”

_Ah, yes, one of the ones I’m supposed to go find. Drat. Still, she makes it sound like a good place…_ He sighed and took a few steps past her – not that those few feet would help the view by much. “What are those stairs?”

“At the foot of Death Mountain, you will find my village, Kakariko. That’s where I was born and raised, and those stairs lead you to it – my people built them when they first settled there.” She leaned down and spoke closer to his ear, startling him a bit. “You really should talk to some of the villagers there before you go up Death Mountain.”

Behind him and to his right was the path that led back to the Kokiri Forest. There he would find Saria, the familiarity of home, and perhaps safety. To his left was the Castle and Princess Zelda to whom he’d made a heartfelt promise. And ahead, he knew, lay his destiny. There was no choice, really. The route to safety, he told himself, was the route to cowardice and betrayal. He’d never be able to live with himself if he broke his promise. Besides, his new loyalty to the Princess was stronger than anything else in him at that moment, so if he died trying to keep that promise, well, at least he would die following his heart and doing what was right.

“Okay,” he told Impa. “I will. Thank you.”

She straightened. “Remember, boy – the song I taught you has some mysterious power. Only Royal Family members are allowed to learn this song, so the fact that _you_ know it, will help prove your connection to Zelda’s family.”

“I’ll remember.”

“Excellent. Hurry, now. The Princess will be waiting for you to return to the Castle with the Spiritual Stones. We’re counting on you, boy!” She took a step back and threw something to the ground.

A second later there was a loud bang, a blinding flash of light, and when Link could see again, Impa was gone.

“Dang.”

“I agree,” he told Navi, grinning. She was using his words now. “Well, we may as well head for the mountain.”

“Quickly, too, Link. It will be getting dark soon.”

_Oh, right,_ he thought. There would always be that.


	5. Chapter 5

A small stone bridge crossed the narrow river-moat running past the Castle. On the other side were some trees, a narrow stretch of field, and the stairs that led to Kakariko Village.

Link had crossed this bridge, walked across the bit of field beyond, and now stood at the foot of the tallest stairway he’d ever seen. At some point it looked like it took a right-hand turn, but from the bottom, he couldn’t be sure. His head was still filled with all that had happened earlier – his meeting with Princess Zelda, the way she’d affected him, the frightening but admirable Impa, his new and rather complicated quest. So the grumbling from his mid-section took him by surprise, and he frowned.

“I’m hungry, Navi. Could I sit down and have something to eat?”

“No, Link, you have to get to the Village up there before the sun goes down.”

He looked at the sky. The distance from the stone bridge hadn’t seemed all that far, but the sun was nonetheless much closer to the horizon. “Fine. I’ll eat when I get there.”

Navi turned green and began flitting up along the stairs, encouraging Link to follow quickly. He did, of course, pausing about halfway to catch his breath – the stairway was extremely steep – and when he got to the top, saw that while the steps had ended, he would, in fact, have to turn right to keep going.

The ground ran between high walls, made by whatever means the builders of this place had used to make a passage through the rock. Ahead, he could see a high log fence, its gate standing open, and beside it, a guard. Curious, Link stopped to talk to him before entering the Village.

It turned out the man was a time-keeper, someone who always knew exactly what time it was and would let visitors and anyone else who asked know. Link surmised this was why he wasn’t wearing metal like the other guards he’d met. A pleasant enough individual, the man was – despite his pole-arm – not a very military-looking sort. He even recommended certain things to Link, telling the boy that he would enjoy the Village shop and should visit the windmill. Thanking him, Link went through the gate.

Kakariko Village was nothing like either his home village or Hyrule Town. There were strong-looking houses here and there made of something other than wood, and some sort of building under construction right in the middle. Men carrying wooden beams on their shoulders were walking along the top of the partially-erected structure, others hammering nails, still others laying brick on one side.

Impa had told him to talk to the villagers, but he didn’t think the men busy at their construction work would appreciate being interrupted by a little boy. He went up a flight of stairs to the right of the new building, passing a large house with a fenced yard, and turned left.

“Oh! Little boy!”

A woman several yards ahead was waving to him. She stood outside a fenced area beside another house, her expression one of distress. He went to her, hoping he hadn’t done anything wrong. “Yes, ma’am?”

“I – oh, dear. Can you help me? My cuckoos have escaped their pen, and I’d collect them myself, but their feathers make me itch and sneeze something awful! Could I convince you to grab them for me and bring them back here?” She indicated with a nod the fenced-in part by the house.

Thanks to the one that had hatched in his satchel – and which he’d totally forgotten about…where had it gone? Did it fly away? Uh-oh. He had promised to take care of it. Wow. Looked like he’d find out first-hand what Malon was like when she got angry if he ever met her again.

“Can you?”

“Huh? Oh! Um, sure.” Before side-tracking himself, Link had been thinking about how, because of the weird egg hatching and all that, he knew what cuckoos looked like. In fact, he’d seen a number of them hopping about as he’d entered the village. “How many are there?”

“Seven. What is your name, by the way? I’m Anju.”

“Nice to meet you. My name is Link.”

“Well, Link, I’ll have a nice reward waiting for you when you’ve gotten them all back, and thank you so much!”

He’d noticed that at the top of another set of stairs on the left side of the village, a pathway led up to Death Mountain, and he had to admit he was in no hurry to get there. Maybe spending time in this village would help him build his courage, get him used to being near it.

Impa had also told him that the Gorons there had one of the Spiritual Stones, and it occurred to him that he should ask the people of Kakariko what these Gorons were like. In the meantime, however… “You’re most welcome,” he told Anju, and set off find her birds.

The first one was only a few feet away, which surprised him. He hadn’t noticed it before. As he approached, the thing skittered and hopped out of reach, cackling at him. He tried again, but the fowl was too quick. “Navi, what am I doing wrong?”

“Try waiting until it has its back to you, Link!”

“Ah. Good idea – thanks.” A few seconds later, the bird seemed to forget about him and turned away to peck at something in the grass. Link crept up behind it, crouching, and – aha!

Holding on to the bird proved a bit of a challenge; as soon as he had it, it began flapping its wings wildly and squawking loudly enough to hurt his ears. He almost dropped it, but then grabbed it by the legs and ran to the enclosure where he flung it inside. The birded landed on what would be a chin in another kind of creature, but hopped quickly upright and grew calm.

“Excellent!” Anju exclaimed, coming to stand beside Link at the fence. “That’s one!” She gave him a wink.

“So it is. I’ll go look for the next one.” He smiled and left her there, peering around as he went. Where had they all gone?

The whole venture took him about an hour, but at last he was heading to the enclosure with the last cuckoo. As he’d caught them, he’d learned something incredible and wonderful – if he had to jump from a high spot while holding the thing, its frantic flapping would actually hold them both aloft for several feet as they drifted toward the ground. This was the most fun Link had had in a long time, and he was almost sad when the final bird made itself comfortable amid its fellows in the enclosure.

“You’re a sweet little boy,” Anju told him, her smile wide. “And as promised, here’s your reward.” She held out a bottle. It was empty and had a swatch of leather over its top that was secured with a piece of thick twine. “It may not seem like much,” she added, “but it’s clean, and can hold all kinds of useful things for you.”

“Really?”

“Really. And I don’t just mean water or milk, or some such. I mean potions, and bugs, and, well, all kinds of things!”

Potions, eh? Not that bugs weren’t interesting, too. Hmm. He tied the bottle to his belt by its twine and thanked her kindly.

“Be sure to visit our Graveyard,” she called as he began to leave. “Our Gravekeeper, Dampe, gives a terrific tour of the place that I think you’ll really enjoy!”

“Thanks! I’ll, um, I’ll go there!” A graveyard…wow. Not exactly what he’d have put on a list of places he wanted to see.

“Let’s go, Link! Let’s see the graveyard!”

“What? Why? And why would anyone give a – a tour of someplace like that? I mean, what’s there besides a bunch of graves?” And ghosts, he added silently.

No such thing existed in the Kokiri Village, but he’d heard of a graveyard being somewhere deep in the forest. The old Kokiri who’d told him about it had made it sound horrifying.

“Oh, Link, there is so much about the world you don’t know. You _do_ need to see it.”

“Terrific. Fine. Where is it?”

“Probably over by the sign that says, ‘Graveyard’.”

He nodded, unhappy. It had been getting late when he’d entered the village, but like Hyrule Town, something here was causing the sun to halt in its trip to the horizon. Before he could wonder about that out loud, his stomach gave a noticeable grumble. “I still haven’t eaten anything, Navi.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Link. Please – sit there and have something.” She flew to a bench outside the town’s mill.

“Thank you, Navi.” He climbed the steps leading to it and sat, taking out some bread. The sound of hammers, the creak of the windmill overhead, and the growing comfort of food filling his tummy almost caused Link to nod off. What a peaceful village this was! Busy, but peaceful.

He got up and went to the large well sitting in front of the mill. A bucket sat on its edge attached by a rope, so he lowered it into the water, pulled it back up, and scooped out a mouthful in cupped hands. Cool and delicious, he drank several times more.

“Come on!” Navi urged as soon as he’d repositioned the bucket for the next person.

“Okay. Just tell me something – we’ve been here for at least two hours, yet the sun hasn’t moved. Why is that?”

Navi did something that he’d learned to identify as a kind of smug giggle. “Didn’t you wonder why you’d been told not to leave the Kokiri Forest?”

“Sort of.”

“Oh, Link, it’s about time!”

“It’s about time? About time what? That I figured it out or something?”

“No, no, no. Everything is about the question of time, silly boy! You see, as long as you stayed right where you were, days followed nights and you grew and got older. But as soon as you left, you abandoned the magic of continuity. So now, the only places where time moves for you are the everyone-places. Those places everyone can have in common that doesn’t define who they are or where they’re from! When you go into a town, you’re entering other people’s time, so it won’t move. Only they don’t realize that, because it does move for them, since that’s their place! And if you go back to the forest now, you’ll see that time has stopped moving there for you, too!”

He stared at her, which he could do because she’d left his shoulder and was bouncing about in front of him. He nodded, but said nothing for a long while. And then he told her, “I have a headache.”

“Oh, Link! Did I confuse you? I’m so sorry!”

“No, Navi, I understood perfectly. I have a headache because I can see that what you’ve told me is only the beginning of what I’m going to be learning about time, and other stuff, and if I ever get to be an adult without my head exploding, it will be magic for sure.” He readjusted his belt which was starting to slip down on one side from all the things he was carrying. “Okay – let’s go visit this Graveyard.”

At least he wasn’t hungry any more.


	6. Chapter 6

“You know, this time thing is getting to be a pain.” Link glared at the sign on the Gravekeeper’s door that informed him the “heart-pounding” tour started way later than the twilight hour he was currently experiencing. He’d have to come back after dark, but how? It seemed “later” wouldn’t be happening at all.

“Go out of the village, Link! If you wait for it to get dark out there, it will be late here, too.”

“Yeah, but you told me I shouldn’t be out there after dark, remember?”

Navi was silent, but she’d turned a strange shade of yellow. Apparently she was working this out.

“Okay, look, since I’m in this stupid graveyard now, I may as well do some exploring. You coming with me?”

“Always!” She turned blue again.

“Good.” He trudged away from the shack, discouraged, trying to make things out in the gloom of near-sundown. The carved stone monuments were gravestones, Navi had explained, but while he recognized that part of what was on them was writing, he couldn’t read it very well. Ignoring the closest row of graves, he headed toward the back part of the area, trailing one hand along the top rail of the wrought-iron fence next to the flagstone path.

When he reached the end of the graveyard, he saw two identical headstones flanking a much larger monument. Curious, he walked to the first one on the left of the monument and peered closely at the carving. “Hmm,” he muttered, sounding out the words on it. “Roy..al..com…Royal? Comp…os…drat. Comp-oser, I think. Bros? What’s that? Sh-sha, uh, sharp. Oh. Sharp. The…know that one…the eld. Eld-er. Elder? Okay. Rip? What?”

A sudden chittering sound was followed by something that glowed, and Link jumped back, drawing his Sword, terrified. The thing seemed to have come right out of the stone, and was taking shape in front of him.

Whatever it was, it was holding a lantern, which it began to swing in circles as it floated closer to the boy.

“Ouch! Hey!” The lantern had struck him, so he swung the Sword defensively, startled and smarting.

The creature, which was only semi-corporeal, squeaked at him and froze in its tracks as the Sword struck home. Fear fueling his momentum, Link whacked at it again. It changed colors momentarily, then unfroze and floated away, finally disappearing into the solid stone wall behind the monument.

“A-and…and don’t come back!” Link shouted at it, disconcerted. He moved away to his right, but it wasn’t until he was in front of the other headstone that he realized his mistake.

Another what-the-heck emerged (or the same one – he couldn’t tell) and began swinging its lantern at him. Once more he defended himself against it, and same reaction followed.

“Navi, what _are_ these things?”

“Poes.”

“What? No one is drawing me – what are you talking about?”

“No, Link! They’re called poes! They’re a kind of spirit, or ghost!”

“Oh, great. I’m being attacked by – ouch! Where did _you_ come from? I – ouch! Stop it!” One of them had returned, although he couldn’t tell which, and now he was angry as well as hurt and frightened. The result was a wild flurry of thrusts, parries, and slashes that reduced the poe to a single flame, its lantern and shape gone.

Link was staring wildly at the thing in front of him, baffled beyond coherent thought. Navi told him to look down, and after a few crazy moments during which he finally remembered his name, he saw he was standing on something familiar – it was a gigantic rendition of the Triforce. What was _that_ doing there?

Before he could decide what question to ask first, a voice came from the formless flame. “Gyaaah! You killed me! Unbelievable!”

Link gaped, speechless again.

“Oh, wait,” the thing continued. “You’re not one of Ganondorf’s men, are you?”

Startled further, Link shook his head. “N-no.” How did this thing know about the man he’d seen in the Castle?

“Ah. Sorry. Because of my role as a ghost, I had to act like that. I apologize. Now then, let me introduce myself.” It made a throat-clearing sound. “I am one of the Ghostly Composer Brothers of Kakariko Village.” He paused.

Link suspected he was waiting for a response that would indicate the boy was impressed. Too bad, he thought. You whanged me with your stupid lantern – I’m not impressed at all, and my shoulder and head hurt, crazy ghost-thing!

“Ah. Yes. Well, you see, all the people in this Village are born to serve the Royal Family of Hyrule,” the ghost continued after several more seconds during which Link simply glared.

Like Impa, he wanted to say, but was still too miffed to speak, his sense of shock fading.

“We Brothers also served the Royal Family, and were assigned to study the hereditary and mystical powers of the family.” The greenish flame crackled for a second or so before continuing. “Though we never could figure out the power of the Triforce, we had almost completed our study of controlling time with the tones of ocarinas.”

“What? You can do that?” Despite his annoyance, which had become more of a pout than anything else, Link was suddenly interested. Maybe this poe-thing could tell him how to deal with the strange way time was behaving in his own life these days. And the ocarina was involved somehow - !

“No, like I said, we had _almost_ completed our studies on that topic.”

“Oh. Never mind, then.” Link started to turn away, disgusted.

“Wait! I mean…uh, all right. Actually, we _did_ complete our study.” It sounded like the ghost was pouting this time.

Link turned back and crossed his arms. “And?”

“Yes, and. You know, we would have been famous! Famous, I tell you! Well, if that hateful Ganondorf had not tried to steal our results.” If flame was capable of fuming, this one did. “Honestly, boy, we had no choice – we could _never_ let him reap the fruits of our research! That’s why we gave our lives to protect the secret.”

Link bit his lip, the ghost’s revelation making him feel somewhat guilty for his childish behavior. “You really did that?”

In response, the ghost merely sighed and faded away.

“Guess he wasn’t about to tell _me_ the secret, either,” Link muttered, walking off. And once again, he found himself in front of the matching headstone on the other side of the monument.

Like the first, this gave the identity of the body buried beneath, and Link learned that this one’s name was Flat the Younger. He muttered the name, wondering why anyone would call a child something so bizarre, and apparently forgetting what his audible musings had caused at the first grave.

He was harshly reminded with a whack on the skull by the second ghost. “Owwww!” he wailed, backing up. “Not you, too!”

Whirrr…whack!

With a yell of pain, Link began slashing at his new assailant, chasing it around the gravestone, and then waiting for it to re-emerge from the wall when it disappeared. As soon as it showed itself again, the boy swung at it over and over until, like its twin, the ghost was reduced to a flame – a bluish one this time.

“Gyaaah! I’m dead again!”

Link sighed, waiting.

“Wait – have we met before?”

“Just here, while you were busy hitting me with your lantern.”

“Ah. Well, I don’t know why, but you – you remind me somehow of Princess Zelda.”

Several sarcastic comments crossed the boy’s mind having to do with dresses and a pretty face, and he was torn between being flattered and highly insulted. He held his peace, however, and listened as the ghost continued.

“Hmmm…since you may have some connection with the Royal Family, I will tell you a little more of our tale.”

“How do you know I’m connected with them?”

A weird opening in the flame that looked suspiciously like a smile gaped at him as the voice said, “Is that an ocarina in your pocket, boy, or are you just…” The smile disappeared. “Sorry. Never mind. You’re too young. But yes, I can feel that you have magic in you, magic like the Princess.”

Unable to make any sense whatsoever of the ghost’s remark about the ocarina, he nodded. “Okay.”

“Yes! Well! Back then – when we were alive, that is, heh-heh – people called us great composers because of the many musical masterpieces we wrote. But mind you, we brothers were not just composers! Oh, no! You see, we had a mission. Our mission was to analyze the mysterious powers of Hyrule’s Royal Family.”

That explained the King’s willingness to accept Zelda’s assertions about prophecies, Link thought, pursing his lips.

“Our names would be part of Hyrule’s history if we could complete our research,” the ghost was saying its voice sounding wistful.

“Wait – I thought you said you had.”

“You’re not listening, child. I never said we didn’t. Now pay attention.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s all right. As I was saying…what was I saying? Oh! Yes. We kept our study secret until we completed it. You see? To tell you the truth, each of us was studying a different song – one to summon the sun, and the other to summon the moon. These were things the Royal Family seemed to understand instinctively.”

“So, day and night…time. Yes?”

“Very good. You know, if you were really sent by a member of the Royal Family, I will tell you about the results of our study. And from what you said, it rather sounds like you were.”

“I was.” Link considered taking out Zelda’s letter, but wasn’t sure it would prove anything to a ghost.

“We inscribed it on the royal tombstone. As a messenger of the Royal Family, you should show your royal credentials on top of the Triforce mark.”

So _that’s_ what it’s doing here! He glanced over at it. “What do I – hey! Where’d you go?” When he turned back, the ghost was gone. “Great.”

“Link!”

“Are you going to tell me the Triforce symbol is here?”

“No, Link. You already know that. I was going to remind you about what Impa said – how the notes of Zelda’s lullaby had magic in them. Isn’t that what the ghosts told you?”

He nodded, putting it together, and went to stand in the middle of the gigantic golden triangles. Here goes, he thought, taking out his ocarina. Putting it to his lips, he brought to mind the pattern of how to play the melody and began.

As the last note faded, he felt a drop of rain, then another, and a second or two later, found himself standing in a veritable downpour. Overhead, lightning crackled, followed by deep rumbles of thunder.

Had he caused this with the song? he wondered. What about – a fierce ball of lightning settled on the huge monument in front of him, spikes of brilliance shooting out from its center, and before Link could react, he was thrown backward, landing hard on the ground near the Triforce as the tomb exploded. The wind had been knocked out of him, and he panicked for a few seconds, unable to breathe at all, his body one, huge ache.

“Link!”

He couldn’t answer, couldn’t see, in fact. Was this how his life was going to end? Was –

“Sit up, Link! You’re okay. Try to take a breath!”

He obeyed, and a moment later was able to suck in some air as his vision began to clear. It took awhile, but he was finally able to get to his feet, albeit on shaky legs, and the spots dancing before his eyes disappeared in a slow fade.

“Link!”

“I – I’m all right, Navi,” he whispered. “What happened?”

“Look at the Royal Tomb!”

He couldn’t actually look at it – it was gone. Shattered into thousands of pieces, most of them too small to identify as having ever been part of something artistic. “I see, Navi.”

“No, look! A hole in the ground, Link!”

“What?” Seriously? What would be down there – the skeletons of dead Royal Family members? Why was she bothering him with this?

“Jump down, Link!”

“Fly down, Navi!”

She turned red. She bobbed up and down in front of him. Then she turned pink, then red again, and finally a sickly yellowish-green. “Are you afraid, Link?”

He took a long, slow, deep breath and went to the edge of the hole. Some residual lightning showed only that it was deep, but no details. “Yes, Navi, I am. Jumping down dark holes in a graveyard is not something sane people do.”

“Have you met any?”

“What?” He turned and gave her a strange look.

“Never mind – jump! You have to go down there! This is why you were told to play the song!”

“So I could blow up the Royal Tomb and…fine. Whatever. If I break a leg, or maybe a neck or two, be sure to have some grass nearby for me.” Checking to see that his weapons were secure, he closed his eyes and jumped.

Okay, so it hadn’t been all that deep after all. He was standing at the top of a ramp made of wide grey stones that led down into what looked like a hallway with a door at the end.

“You only have one neck, Link.”

At first he thought maybe the hole _had_ been very deep and he’d died or been knocked out, and was in a strange dream-state. What was she – ah. He suddenly remembered his snide remark before heading into the hole. “Thank you, Navi. I know. I was being sarcastic.”

“I see. Let’s go!”

“Right.” He walked forward, the slope proving too steep to allow him to walk slowly. At the bottom was indeed a doorframe, but what filled it didn’t look like any door he’d ever seen before. If in fact it _was_ a door. Made entirely of stone and inscribed from top to bottom with runes, it was clearly too solid to move. He put out a hand to touch it, and with a rumbling whoosh, it lifted, opening upward.

“Oh, cool!” He went through and would have continued across what proved to be a large stone-walled chamber with torch-stands positioned here and there, but something stopped him. Not the scratching sounds of spiders, but something else.

Flapping. Not constant, but almost fitful, like a winged creature getting comfortable. It was all around him, too. Instantly alert, he took out his sling-shot and fitted a deku seed into it. What now? he asked himself. What now?


	7. Chapter 7

One of the reasons Link had always excelled at games was his eyesight and unerring focus ability. Apparently, he’d been born with dead-aim, the skill to zero in on the exact center of things and coordinate his movements to match. Because of this he had found jumping pathstones without missing a simple task. Targeting things with the sling-shot had been every bit as easy for him, even if his life had never depended upon that accuracy before.

Well, now it did, he suspected, as he took aim at a creature he could barely see attached to a side wall in the chamber. Only one of the torches was lit, making it difficult to make out details at a distance. So he concentrated on the thing’s fitful flapping, guessing at its center.

Zing! Squeak! Thunk. One down. He turned slowly, looking for the next tell-tale movement of what sounded like leathery wings. Nothing…nothing…ah! There!

Zing! Squeak! Thunk. Two. He could still hear them, though, and turned about to find the next. And – yup, there it was, closer than the other two. A quick shot, and now he could only hear one. It was even closer than the last, and he realized it had to be on the wall next to the door through which he’d entered.

It was.

Zing! Squeak! Thud. Done.

He walked forward, feeling somewhat safer. Even better, the now-familiar metal bars that had slid down to block both the exit and another door beyond the top of what looked like a rune-inscribed monument straight, slid back up to allow him to get out of the room when he was ready. As he reached the monument, he realized it was really a staircase with huge, deep steps. Figured. He put away the sling-shot, reached upward, and jumped, catching the edge of the first step and hauling himself onto its top.

Altogether there were three of these and like the other one leading into this chamber, this door was covered with runes that had been chiseled into the stone. What a strange place this was! He came close to it and the door shot upward.

Almost as soon as he’d stepped inside, Link detected a very unpleasant odor. It smelled toxic somehow, but from where he stood, all he could see was some kind of greenish mist rising from the floor at the end of the tunnel-like entry into this next room.

At his shoulder, Navi twinkled at him but said nothing. That made him frown. Why was she being silent? What was in here that she didn’t want hearing her? Or perhaps him…He started walking, but it wasn’t until he’d left the entry tunnel that he saw the bizarre, unpleasant details defining the chamber.

Square openings in the floor contained some kind of green liquid, the surface broken here and there by a semi-skeletal arm and hand reaching upward, frozen in death’s stiffness. Worse, standing on several spots along the crisscrossing pathways made by the openings were…things. Tall, ugly, cadaverous things. They may have been people once, or perhaps had never been. Link couldn’t tell, having never seen anything like them before.

Still, his instincts told him they were dangerous. Not moving at the moment, they nonetheless looked like they could suddenly become animated and cause great harm.

“Link!” It was a hiss. “Run! Run past them without stopping! If you stop, they’ll drain the life out of you and you’ll die!”

Naturally, the boy wanted “run” to mean “run back the way you came,” but the same irritating sense of certainty that had told him these creatures were lethal, told him he was supposed to run straight ahead to the corridor barely visible on the far side of the room.

Afraid to speak, he nodded, took a deep breath, and took off. As he passed the first one creature, he felt more than saw it stir. Crap. He ran faster. A low moan came from somewhere behind him and he pretty much flung himself in through the corridor as soon as he reached it.

He found he was facing more pools of poisonous-looking liquid, another narrow path, and at its end, a vast monument atop three shallow steps. A golden Triforce symbol had been painted in the center of the monument’s top frame, the object itself inscribed, but this time, Navi translated it for him.

“Listen, Link! It says, ‘This poem is dedicated to the memory of the dearly departed members of the Royal Family.’ Um…” Her voice had a tremulous, whispery quality, and Link knew she was as frightened as he was at the moment. “Now here’s the poem – ‘The rising sun will eventually set. A newborn’s life will fade. From sun to moon, moon to sun – Give peaceful rest to the living dead.’ Well! This is an interesting poem, isn’t it!” Her cheerfulness was, he knew, forced.

“I guess.”

“I mean…huh. What’s this?” She flew to the lower left part of the monument. “Ooh. Something else is inscribed on this tombstone, Link! Look!”

He leaned down, peering closer. “What are those lines and dots?”

“Musical notes! It’s the secret melody of the Composer Brothers!”

“But…wait. Wouldn’t Ganondorf have been able to see this, too?” He straightened and took out his ocarina.

“Maybe – or maybe they did this after they were dead.”

Link shook his head. “That’s plain old creepy, Navi. And besides, how could they do that? I mean, did they whack the stone with their lanterns or something?”

“Don’t be disrespectful.”

“Sorry.” She was right. His sarcastic tendencies were getting out of hand. “Well, whatever. I may as well try to play it, yes?”

“Good thinking, Link!”

He wanted to ask her why she felt the need to say his name all the time, but decided to forget it for now and see what playing the song would do – if anything. He couldn’t read music, of course, but the way the notes had been chipped into the monument reminded him of how the holes on the ocarina were situated. Using that as a guide, he played the short melody, not sure if it was right.

“Oh, there’s something more here!” Navi flitted over the lower section now. “It says, ‘Restless souls wander where they don’t belong...bring them calm with the Sun’s Song.’ Gee, I guess that’s the name of the melody!”

Link was frowning at the ocarina. Nothing, as far as he could tell, had happened. “Yeah. Makes sense.”

“We need to leave now, Link.”

Leave. That meant having to run past those monsters in the next room. The alternative, naturally, was to simply stay put either until someone came along and rescued him (ha!) or he died of starvation. What a choice… “All right.” He prepared to start running, and was about to launch himself down the narrow path when Navi’s recitation of the extra wording struck him.

“What is it, Link?”

“Navi, would you read that last bit again, please?”

She flitted back to the tombstone and read the words at the bottom. When she was done, she zoomed back to his shoulder. “What are you thinking?”

“It said ‘restless souls’ and…what else? ‘Calm them with the…’ I think I understand. The only problem is that I’m not sure I was playing it right.” He started walking down the path, careful not to let himself slip into the green, foul-smelling pools on either side. “If I’m wrong, Navi, I’ll probably get killed.”

“You aren’t wrong.”

“How do you know?”

“I know.”

Okay, he thought, not exactly a comforting answer, but what the heck.

He’d reached the end of the path and peered out into the room ahead. The things hadn’t moved, but they looked horrifying and dangerous anyway. He lifted the ocarina, took a long, deep breath, and played the song.

As soon as the final note echoed away, another sound rebounded around the chamber, something that sounded like paper being torn. More important, however, was what he saw happen at the same time – the creatures turned pure white, almost as if they’d been frozen.

“Whoa!” Eyes wide, he took a step into the chamber. Nothing. None of the movement he’d sensed before, no moans. Since he didn’t know how long the effect of the song would last, he ran as fast as before, but without the mind-rending fear, and got to the other side a second before the tearing sound was repeated. Without looking back, he knew the monsters were back to what for them was normal.

He kept running, in fact, until he was back on the ramp leading up from the tomb. Halfway to the top, he stopped to catch his breath. He could see light pouring down from the hole through which he’d jumped. “Er, Navi? How am I supposed to get back up there again?”

“Well, how did you get out of the Deku Tree?”

He thought about that for a second. “Yes, but I don’t see any blue light.”

“Nope. No blue light. But you do see that platform, don’t you?”

He took a few steps further. “Oh. Huh. Didn’t notice it when I got down here.”

“Of course you didn’t. You were looking down the ramp, not at your feet, silly.”

_I’m not silly._ “True. But what’s your point?”

She did her tinkling giggle sound. “Go stand on the platform, Link.”

He nodded and did as she suggested. Nothing happened for about a split second. He looked up at the piece of sky visible through the hole, and then – light. Bright, yellow-white light. It bathed him in its brilliance, and when it faded, he was standing in the graveyard once more.

Link nodded and looked around, slack-jawed. “Ah...uh, interesting. Didn’t feel a thing. I wonder what that was.” He was muttering, and then, louder, he said, “Navi, what was that?”

“A transporter.”

“Of course. A transporter. I should have known. Ha. Good. Can we get out of here now?”

“Not yet, Link! There’s more to see!”

He looked at the sky again, at first in exasperation, but this quickly changed to shock. The sun was out. He nearly had to sit down. “How long were we down there?” And what was wrong with his voice? He suddenly sounded like a little girl.

“Not too long. Less than an hour.”

“Are you laughing at me, Navi?”

“No. Yes. Nicely, though. Haven’t you figured it out?”

_Figured out what – that if I had a shovel, I’d whang you with it?_ “No.”

“The Sun Song!”

Sun…oh! Now he decided that if he had a shovel, he’d whang himself with it for being so stupid. “Should’ve guessed.”

“That’s okay! It’s why you have _me_ here!”

He refused to follow up on that one. Instead, he decided to see how this song-thing worked and played the melody again.

The sun went down and the moon came up, all in about four seconds. That was all.

Amazing. “Got it. So what else do I have to see?”

“Some of these gravestones can be moved!”

“Why?”

“What a curious little boy you are! Here – pull this one back.” She’d led him to a grave that was smaller than the Composer Brothers’ but of the same general configuration.

Link walked behind it and saw a kind of pathway about the same length as the stone. It looked like someone had dug up the grass to form a dirt track. Grabbing the top of the stone, he pulled, and to his astonishment, it moved easily. But why?

“Listen! There’s another hole here now! Jump, Link!”

“Navi! I’m not your…never mind.” It simply wasn’t worth getting into an argument about, so he went to the front of the grave, and sure enough, another hole was staring at him from the ground.

Sleep would have been nice around now, as would a cup of water and some berries. Maybe a piece of bread. Would have been, but wasn’t going to happen unless there was a bed and a table full of food down there. So, being an obedient little boy, Link went to the edge of the hole, shot a glare at his fairy, and jumped in.


	8. Chapter 8

By the time Link finally left the graveyard, he’d destroyed one of the cadaverous creatures (which Navi eventually informed him was called a “re-dead,” a term he found incomprehensible), learned he could reveal magically hidden chests containing large pieces of the heart-shaped fruit, and jumped down another hole in which he’d discovered a metal version of his shield. This one was quite a bit larger than his wooden one, but Navi told him to keep it, that there might come a time when he’d be glad he had it.

For its size, the shield was light, and he managed to secure it under the wooden shield with only minimal discomfort. So more well-equipped than he thought he ought to be, he returned to the village. Since it was nighttime, no one was about.

“Boring,” he mumbled, and headed for the entrance, deciding to explore the field. He was still reluctant about going up the mountain, and justified this side-trip by telling himself there was probably nothing he could do there at night anyway. The fact that he now only need play that song on his ocarina to bring the dawn was forcibly ignored.

“Link! There is evil in the field at night, remember?”

“So you said. But I killed off one of those dead-things, uh, re-deads? Yeah. That. I’m sure I can handle whatever is in the field.”

“Yet you’re afraid to climb Death Mountain.”

“Be quiet.” She was right but he didn’t want to discuss it. Not yet. It occurred to him that part of his dread involved a recognition of his woeful lack of experience. Sure, he’d fought a gigantic spider and won; he’d faced a couple of ghosts and reduced them to harmless flames; he’d even hacked a living-dead being into a different state of death. But was he ready for what had to be an even greater challenge on that mountain? Something told him that if he’d had to defeat a creature like Gohma for the Kokiri Emerald, winning the next Spiritual Stone would have to be every bit as difficult, perhaps even more so.

Navi may or may not have sensed the boy’s conflict, but she didn’t reply or indicate his words had insulted her.

As he went out through the gate and headed for the long staircase, he saw the guard was there, but had paid no attention to him. He rounded the corner and started down the steps, noting how quiet it was at night.

When he was almost halfway down a strange noise, like dirt being shoveled at a frantic pace, began a few steps ahead. A second later there was a large puff of earth and a huge skeleton pulled itself up from under the step. Without preamble, it slashed at the boy with red-tipped, fleshless fingers, its massive jaws snapping, fiery red light shooting from its eye-sockets.

Link’s instant reaction was to jump backward. He tripped when his heel caught the edge of the step behind him and he nearly landed on his back, but managed to put out a hand to catch himself while with the other he drew his Sword. Yelling in sheer terror, he slashed at the vicious bony thing attacking him as he found his footing. With both hands gripping the hilt, he began hacking in earnest, and within seconds, the skeleton tumbled to the ground, broken, and disappeared in a flash of bluish light.

“What – ” Link gulped. “What _was_ that, Navi?!”

“They’re Stalchildren, Link. You should play the Sun Song.”

He thought about that for a moment. “No. No, I think I need to face these things and learn to fight better.” He continued down the stairs.

Before reaching the stone bridge over the moat, he’d fought and defeated three more of the nasty creatures. Thus far, he hadn’t been injured by any of them, but he was getting horribly tired by now and began to feel hungry once more. What time should it be? he wondered.

“Where are we going, Link?”

“I don’t know. Ack!” Another Stalchild rose up before him and after a brief battle, fell before Link’s Sword. “I need to sleep, Navi, I really, really do.”

Up ahead he could see a structure on top of a hillside. “What’s that?” He pointed with the tip of the Sword.

“Lon Lon Ranch.”

Aha! That…well, maybe not. He wasn’t sure he wanted to deal with Malon, especially since he’d managed to lose her cuckoo. On the other hand, he _had_ succeeded in sending her father home as promised. Besides, he reasoned, it was – crap! Another Stalchild, accompanied by a smaller one, clambered out of the ground and attacked.

“Ow,” he whispered, clutching a wound on his left arm once the two had been destroyed. “Navi, I need to sleep.”

“Here, Link – cut some grass and put in on your arm.”

“Oh, right.” He did, felt a bit better, and started for the stone walls of the Ranch. What he’d been thinking before being attacked, was that Malon would most likely be asleep herself at this hour, so his chances of running into her were slim.

Twice more he had to defend himself against the crazy skeletons, but now he was getting injured in each encounter. The grass helped, but it wasn’t until he found a small heart-fruit and ate it that he actually got some strength back.

A wide grassy pathway led upward between the rocky walls of the Ranch when he reached it at last. As he did, the sun began to rise. Navi told him the enemies would leave him alone during the day – or at least those enemies. Apparently there were other kinds, but she didn’t tell him what they were.

At the top he entered the Ranch itself and found two buildings, one on either side of the path that continued until it opened into a huge fenced-in area. Curious, he entered the building on his left, and there, sitting on the floor amid a gaggle of noisy cuckoos, was Talon.

The man didn’t notice Link until he got closer and greeted him. Setting aside one of the birds that had been on his lap, Talon looked up. “Oh! Hello, young man!”

A cuckoo began pecking at one of Link’s boots and he shooed it away with one hand. “Hello. You’re Talon, right?”

“I am indeed! The owner of this ranch, in fact. And you – you look familiar. Have we met?”

“At the Castle a day or so ago.” Had it only been a day or two, then? What with meeting the Princess, and with all his jumping in and out of holes, fighting off skeletons, learning music that did odd things to his environment, and a dire lack of sleep, he was no longer sure about anything, much less what day it was, should be, or wasn’t.

“Yes! I remember!” the man was saying. “You told me Malon had sent you!” He chuckled. “I certainly got an earful when I found her.” He shook his head, his expression rueful but indulgent. “So! What can I do for you? Do you want to marry my daughter?”

Link gaped. What? What was he talking about? Marry… “I – I mean…well, no, sir.”

Talon threw back his head and gave a loud guffaw, slapping one thigh with a thick hand. “Ha! Just joking, boy, just joking! You’re far too serious about things, aren’t you! No, no, you’re a bit young for something like marriage, eh?”

More annoyed than relieved, Link nodded, his mouth a straight line. The Know-It-Alls had told him what “marry” meant, and he was appalled. Sheesh.

“Tell you what, though,” Talon went on, “I’m going to give you a challenge. If you can win my little game, I have something nice for you, and then you can ask me for whatever it was you came here for, all right?”

“Uh…sure.” Why not? After that, maybe the man would let him go lie down in the huge pile of straw over in the corner.

“Okay! These, as you can see, are my cuckoos. But one of them is special. He looks like the rest, but he’s actually a super-cuckoo! If you can discover which one he is, and bring him to me within four minutes, I’ll reward you handsomely!”

Link stared around the room, counting roughly twelve or so of the birds, all of them identical, and decided to start with the ones closest. Remembering how he’d caught Anju’s birds, he snagged the first, ran back to Talon with it, and when the man shook his head in the negative, tossed it into a space between some boxes and a staircase behind where Talon continued to sit.

Six cuckoos later, he grabbed one, and before he could return with it, Talon stood up and shouted. “That’s the one! You did it!”

Link dropped the cuckoo and went to Talon, totally exhausted, sweat creeping down his back under his tunic.

From a box beside him, Talon took out an object which he held up. “You’ve won a bottle of Lon Lon milk, my boy!”

“Milk.”

“Yes! It’s not just any milk, either, let me tell you! My milk is like no other. It fills you with health and energy as soon as you drink it. In fact, I’m told, it even has certain healing properties.” He gave Link a huge grin and handed him the bottle.

“Thank you, sir.” Not sure what to do with it, he held it in one hand, feeling a bit foolish.

“So now, what did you come here for? Is there something you needed?”

At last. “Yes, sir. I need a safe place to sleep for a while. I’ve been, well, I’ve been on a kind of quest, you see, and I believe it’s been at least two days since I really slept. Do you have some straw or something where I could – ”

“Straw! Never mind, my boy, you deserve better than that! You were most kind to my little Malon, even hatching her weird egg for her!”

“Um, yeah, about that…”

“Oh, she’s delighted! It flew home to her – got here before either of us did, in fact! Anyway, you’re also quite good with cuckoos, I’d say. Not many could have found the special one as fast as you did! So tell you what – climb these stairs, and at the top you’ll find a loft with a nice, soft bed. Sleep as long as you need to, and when you wake up, I’ll show you where you can bathe, clean up a little and all that. I’ll have a nice meal for you, too. How’s that?”

Link was astounded. “You – you’re very kind, sir! How can I thank you?”

“I have a feeling you’ll be thanking me by finishing whatever this quest of yours is. There’s something about you…hmm. Well, no matter. Off you go!” He gestured toward the stairs.

With another word of thanks, Link went up, and as promised, found a clean bed, its thick mattress filled with the softest down. He removed his clothes and boots, then took off his hat, releasing a tumble of badly-cut blond hair (he’d cut it himself, of course, as all Kokiri did, but never took much care in how he did it). With a sigh of contentment, he ruffled his unruly mop, stretched, and got under the covers.

In less than a moment, he was fast asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

This was the second time in the past few days that Link awoke in a strange place. Unlike before, however, he had no curiosity or any desire to get up. A brief, sleepy glance at his immediate surroundings was all he was willing to offer before burrowing deeper into the magnificent mattress. Even his own familiar little bed in his own familiar little cottage was nowhere near as soft and cozy as this. The blanket was softer than his, too, as was the pillow…

“Link! Wake up!”

And then there was that. Two important changes in his life were going to force him out of the bed: a quest and a fairy. He groaned and sat up. “I’m up, Navi,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. He had dreamed, he was sure, and vaguely remembered something pleasant…ah, Princess Zelda. He had dreamed that they were walking in the Lost Woods together, laughing and talking. The day had been soft, like the bed, the greens of the forest reflected in the ambient light filtering through thick leaves…

“Link!”

“Aah! I’m up! Really!” He jerked upright, eyes snapping open. “Okay. Where are my clothes?”

“Over here, Link! Malon brought them back.”

“What do you mean by ‘back,’ Navi? Where did they go?”

“Silly boy – Talon took them away after you’d fallen asleep yesterday morning, and she brought them back a few minutes ago. From the smell, I’d say she washed them for you.”

He nodded, suddenly embarrassed. “Yeah. I, um, they _were_ a bit stinky from being worn so long, I guess. Hold on.” He tilted his head to one side, Navi’s words registering. “Yesterday…how long was I asleep?”

“All day yesterday and all last night. Seems you were as tired as you claimed to be.”

“I wouldn’t make that up, you know.” He peered under the covers and realized someone had put a long, clean shirt on him. “Who – how did…”

Navi giggled.

Link glared. He threw off the covers, shivered in the slight morning chill, and got out of bed with great reluctance. When he was standing, he noticed a table on the other side of the loft that held a large water-filled bowl, a thick towel folded neatly beside it, and a cube of soap on top of the towel. The glare went away and he smiled. Getting clean was probably the next best thing to being able to sleep in that amazing bed, and he went at it with joy.

Dressed, clean, and well rested, he headed down the stairs, feeling better than he had in a long time. Now all he needed was something to eat. He went outside, inhaled deeply and stretched. The day was a bit overcast, which suited him fine. The sunshine in the world outside the Kokiri Forest was glorious, but he wasn’t yet as comfortable with that as he was with the less boisterous light of home. Besides, the cloudy sky reminded him of his dream…he smiled, thinking of Zelda…

“Good morning, m’boy!”

“Oh! Good morning, sir.”

Talon had emerged from another door further down in the same building. “How did you sleep?”

“Better than I think I ever have, to tell you the truth. And thanks for cleaning my clothes.” He blushed.

“No problem, no problem at all!” Talon clapped him on the shoulder and grinned. “So! Are you hungry?”

  1. “Yes, sir. A little.”



“Come inside, then! I have plenty of breakfast left. We all get up pretty darned early around here, so me and Malon have already eaten, but I asked her to leave out some food for you.”

As he spoke, he led Link inside. The room they entered was large and pleasant, the walls plastered and whitewashed – something Link had never seen before – with various tables against the walls and one large, round one in the center. On this was a huge bowl of fruit surrounded by platters, one holding a stack of sliced bread, another with shelled nuts of varying types, still another with orange-yellow cubes, and one with a pile of something yellowish, almost gelatinous-looking. The fruit, bread and nuts were familiar, but Link had no idea what the other things were.

“Have a seat, boy. Here you go.” Talon pulled a chair out, waved at it, then sat himself in one adjacent. He reached for an apple. “Help yourself. Malon baked the bread this morning, and believe me, it’s wonderful. Here.” He picked up another dish, one Link hadn’t noticed before, and placed it near the boy’s plate.

“What’s this?” he asked, taking a thick slice of bread.

“What? Haven’t you ever had butter?”

“No, sir.”

Talon laughed. “My goodness! What do you forest folk eat, then?”

“Fruit and nuts, mostly. Bread, too.”

“So you’ve never had scrambled eggs, I take it. Or cheese?”

“Afraid not.”

“Well, let me introduce you, then!” Talon took Link’s bread and smeared the whitish substance from the small plate onto its surface with a flat knife. Then he cut a chunk of the orange item from one of the bigger pieces, telling him it was cheese,  and put that next to the bread, followed by a scoop of the yellow stuff which he identified as the eggs.

“Wow! This is delicious!” the boy exclaimed after swallowing a mouthful. “Where do you grow them?”

“Grow…oh! No, no, the cuckoos lay them!”

A totally new concept, Link wasn’t sure he liked the idea, but there was no denying how good they tasted, nor how nicely they filled his stomach. The same was true of the harder, salty chunk of what the man had called “cheese.”

“Where does cheese come from, then?”

“It’s churned cow’s milk, just like the butter, but the process is longer.”

Link had never experienced milk, either. This was turning out to be an educational morning for him. He got full more quickly than expected, and now needed to move. He also needed to relieve himself, and mentioned this to Talon.

“Use the outbuilding next to the stables. It’s closer than the one near the storage silo.”

Link gave him a blank stare.

“Never mind – I’ll show you.” Talon smiled and stood. “Follow me.”

“Thank you, sir. And thank you for taking such good care of me – I never expected you to do all that.” The fact was, Link wasn’t used to anyone being so kind to him, and wasn’t sure how to handle a sudden wave of emotion that made him swallow hard several times. Overwhelmed with gratitude, he swore he’d do something special for this kind man some day.

“Not at all,” said Talon over his shoulder.

They had gone outside and past the buildings, turning right at the end. They passed a huge double door on the right, and several yards beyond this was a smaller one. It belonged to a building that was so close to the stable, it might have been part of it except for a barely-discernible space between their walls. The building itself was narrow, and when Talon opened the door, Link could see little of what was inside. A window had been cut in the back wall, but it was high up, and did nothing to illuminate the lower part of the interior, but after a few seconds he could make out what looked like a low bench with a hole in it.

Even if he hadn’t been sure what this was, the odor coming from its depths defined it as a place for eliminating body waste. What he couldn’t understand was why they’d enclosed it. In the Forest, one dug a shallow hole in the earth for solid waste, covering it back up afterward, or stood behind a tree to…well. This was really strange, he thought. And smelly.

Talon had left him, shutting the door as he went out. Several minutes later, Link emerged, grateful to be out of there, and realized he was facing the gigantic enclosure he’d noticed the night before. Or no, the morning before.

And what were those huge animals running around in the enclosure? They reminded him of his recurring nightmare for some reason…

“Why don’t you go say hello to Malon?” the man suggested, nodding toward the fenced area. “After milking the cows, she works with her horse in the corral.”

“Horse?”

“Yes – haven’t you ever seen a horse before?”

“No.” As soon as he said that, he realized that he must have, because now he recognized them as the same huge, four-legged creatures in that terrible dream. In order for him to have dreamed them, he must have seen them…somewhere. But when?

Talon nodded, obviously surprised, but didn’t say so. “Those are horses.” He waved toward the spindly-legged creatures. “I don’t own them, of course. My ranch is for raising cows only, but part of my income is from letting horse owners use my corral to exercise their animals. One of them gave Malon a horse of her own, a foal that she named Epona. See?” With a hand on Link’s shoulder, he brought the boy to the entrance of the corral.

In the center, Link could make out a small figure. Nearby was one of the horses but it wasn’t much taller than Malon herself.

Closer to where he stood, the larger animals were trotting about, and he was somewhat shocked at the size of them. Even in the dream, he couldn’t tell they were this big. “What do you do with horses?”

“We ride them, of course. What else?”

Link’s dream-people had been riding them, too. Even in real life they looked very fast and he imagined riding one would make travel both quicker and easier. “Oh.”

“Malon says Epona is special – she _would_ say that, of course!” He chuckled. “Well, you go on, then. Go say hello. I have lots of work to do today and should really get to it.”

Link nodded, not sure he was comfortable with walking into the corral with all those horses running here and there. He could easily get stepped on, he thought. He heard Talon walk off, and figured he may as well go see Malon. Besides, if a little girl wasn’t afraid to be in there, he certainly shouldn’t have a problem with it!

After narrowly avoiding the indignity of stepping in horse poo several times, and once or twice having to wait while a horse galloped past, he made it to the center at last and greeted Malon, thanking her for taking care of his clothes.

“It’s the least I could do, Link!”

So she’d remembered his name. Cool.

“I could see you were still enjoying your sleep, so I didn’t wake you earlier. Did you eat?”

“Yes. Your father gave me breakfast. It was delicious.”

She giggled and wrinkled her nose at him.

He cleared his throat, suddenly uncomfortable. Why did girls get like that? Saria had shown the same kind of cutesy-coy behavior periodically, and he simply didn’t understand. “Um, nice horse.”

“Oh! You like Epona? I’ll call her.” She turned and whistled a pleasant pattern of notes and the little horse trotted over, her reddish coat gleaming in the light of a sun that had at that moment emerged from behind its cloud. The horse nuzzled the girl’s shoulder, then turned to Link, snuffled at him, and ran off.

“She’s not used to you,” Malon explained. “Here – let me teach you her song. That way, when you come back, you can call to her and she’ll know you’re a friend. Do you know how to whistle?”

“Not really. But I do have an ocarina. Will that work?”

“Yes! That’s perfect, in fact!” She began to whistle, and when she was done, Link repeated the melody on his instrument.

“You did it!” The girl clapped her hands, delighted. “Oh, and look! Here’s Epona!”

Sure enough, the horse had returned, and now she was pushing her nose into Link’s chest, almost causing him to stumble. “Easy, there!” He laughed and put a hand to Epona’s muzzle. Stroking it gently, he was amazed at how smooth and silky she was.

“She likes you, Link. I have a feeling she may be a good friend for you when she grows up.”

“You’d let me visit her? I mean, she’s your horse, right?”

“Hmm. Well, yes, but not really. I mean, the owner gave her to me to raise, but she’ll choose who she wants to serve. I have nothing to say about that. Besides, girls don’t usually ride horses – only the Gerudo, from what I hear, and they’re pretty wild.”

Gerudo. There it was again. “Who are they? They’re mostly girls, right?”

“Why, that’s all there are! Only one boy is born to them every once in a while, but, well. I’m not that familiar with their story, but I do know they’re fierce and scary. For women, that is. You never heard of them?”

“Once, a long time ago, but only about their prison, so I wasn’t told anything about who or what they are. Not until the other day, that is, and then only a little bit.” He purposely didn’t mention Ganondorf. Zelda had asked him to keep all of that a secret and he’d die before breaking his promise to do so. He patted Epona’s neck and took a deep breath. This line of thinking had reminded him of his quest. He was sure he should get back to it, despite how pleasant it was to be here with Malon and her horse. “I ought to go now.”

“Where are you going, Link? You seem to travel around a lot. Don’t you have a family?”

“No. Thanks again, Malon. I enjoyed being here. You and your father are very nice, and I hope to see you again.”

“You still have your fairy, I see.” She pointed at Navi, who had remained silent this entire time.

“Yes. Her name is Navi.”

“Hello, Navi.”

The fairy turned a lighter shade of blue and twinkled.

“That means you’re a Kokiri, then. I’d wondered about that after I met you in Town. But…I heard they were very small. About my height, like you, only smaller. You look like you’re going to get much taller some day, but I thought the Kokiri children stopped growing once they got to my size.”

He shrugged, disconcerted. So she’d noticed it, too! What was going on? “Guess so.”

“Before you leave, I’d like to give you something. I – I’ve been keeping it hidden, but I doubt I’ll ever need it. You might, though. I mean, it sounds like you’re going to be having a lot of adventures, and this could help you. See that tower over there?” She pointed to a tall stone structure at the far end of the ranch, beyond the corral and near one of the outer walls. “That’s our storage silo. If you go inside, you’ll find a few cows, probably, and some crates of milk bottles. If you push them aside, you’ll find a secret entrance to a special hiding place I go when I want to be alone. In the straw, there’s a large heart fruit. That kind lasts a really long time after its been picked, and since I only got it about a week or so ago, it should be okay for another two or three weeks before you have to eat it before it goes bad.”

“Are you sure?” _Dang, this girl talks more than Fado! At least she makes sense._

“Of course! I would never offer it otherwise, silly boy!”

_Great. Now she sounds like Navi._ “That’s extremely kind of you. Thank you, Malon.”

The girl suddenly blushed and looked away, which Link promptly took as his cue to get out of there.

A short while later, the life-giving fruit tucked into his satchel, he headed out of the ranch after stopping briefly to thank Talon once again for his hospitality.

“My pleasure,” said the man, beaming. “You’re a good boy, Link. Feel free to come back any time you need a place to sleep, or even for a nice visit, okay?”

“Yes, sir. I will.”

When they were out in the field once more, Navi reminded Link that he really, really needed to get to Death Mountain. With the reminder, however, came a return of the heaviness he’d felt before entering the ranch, and which his stay there had all but erased. “You’re right,” he admitted, unhappy. “I do need to get there.” He headed toward the stairs to Kakariko Village, and was about to cross over the path that led back to the forest when he stopped.

“You know,” he murmured, “I probably won’t be back for a really long time, if ever. Hmm.”

“Link! What are you doing?”

“Thinking, Navi. Every once in a while I do that.” Should he let someone else have his tree-cottage? But who would need it? There were no new Kokiri children as far as he knew, and now with the Great Deku Tree gone, there most likely wouldn’t be any new ones for a while.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Huh?” And there was something else. Something he couldn’t explain, but it seemed a new sense had awakened in him since his encounters in the Deku Tree. Almost like a compass, only it was in his head. At the moment, it was telling him…

“You have to hurry, Link!”

He made up his mind. “You’re absolutely right, Navi. Let’s go!”

The fairy shot forward, while Link turned right and started down the path toward the Forest. A second later, he heard her squeak and zoom back.

“Where are you going? The mountain is the other way!”

“I know, Navi. We’ll get there, but not today. I have a feeling I need to go back to the Village, but I’m not sure why.”

“Very well.”

A few steps later, Link realized that she had sounded almost pleased. “Navi, is there anything you aren’t telling me?”

“Like what, Link?”

“Like why you aren’t arguing with me about my decision to return to the Forest.”

“It’s nothing. I trust you, is all.”

Thinking that was about the weirdest thing she’d ever said to him, he didn’t respond. Besides, the light was beginning to fade, and he figured it might be a good idea to get back to the Village before nightfall. He wasn’t concerned about the Stalchildren or about the Village remaining in darkness – he had the Sun Song, after all. Nope, it was something else.

The first time he’d entered Hyrule field, he’d seen some strange-looking objects resting on the ground far to his left. They were still there, from what he could see, but one of them, he now noticed, had risen from the ground and was floating off somewhere. The fact that these things, gigantic as they were, could not only move, but fly, too, had him worried. He had a feeling that since they were around in daylight, they probably wouldn’t disappear at night, either.

Ahead, the narrow passage between grassy walls and trees loomed closer; Link picked up his pace, and got there with no mishaps. Grateful, he dashed into the opening, wondering if everything would still be the way it had been when he left.


	10. Chapter 10

No one was standing guard near the opening back into the Village. Why? What had happened? Was something wrong? How come –

“Link, are you all right?” Navi sounded worried, but not terribly so.

“Where is everyone? What’s happened here?”

Silence. “I think they’re probably in their cottages for the evening. You know you’ve only been gone a couple of days.”

“Are you laughing at me, Navi?”

“No. Yes. A little. You’re too serious, Link!”

He sighed, relaxing. “You’re right.” Feeling somewhat foolish, he trudged forward.

“Why are we here?”

“I have no idea. It seemed like the right thing, is all.”

“Where are we going?”

He stopped, put a hand to his forehead and winced. “I don’t know. Saria’s house, I suppose.” He didn’t have a headache or anything, but suspected the fairy’s constant stream of questions would be giving him one soon.

“Why?”

He’d known she was going to ask that. “Because. Because I’m a – a silly boy.” He started walking again.

The journey from Lon Lon Ranch to the Woods had taken less than half a day, but he was hungry, and while not that tired yet (he hadn’t been running, after all), was beginning to think he could use another good night’s rest before doing anything else of major importance. Like climbing a mountain.

He stopped, having reached Saria’s cottage. Unlike his, this one’s door was on ground-level. He went in, a perfectly normal and acceptable behavior here, and called her name.

No answer. No movement. _How odd_ , he thought, going outside again.

“Link! You’re back!”

“Hello, Fado.”

“Everyone was wondering if you’d died. No Kokiri has ever left the Forest and lived, you know. But many said you would – live, I mean – because like Saria says, you’re different from us somehow. How are you different, Link? I mean, you’re stronger than most of us, but – ”

“Do you happen to know where Saria is?” He didn’t like being rude, but if he didn’t interrupt her prattle, he’d start drooling.

“Sure do! She’s in the Lost Woods. In fact, I think she knew you’d be back because she said if any of us saw you, we should tell you to meet her there at the Temple ruin. I’ve never been there, myself. Have you ever been there, Link? It sounds mysterious!”

“Here.” He held out an apple he’d put into his satchel after breakfast at the ranch. “Ever have one of these? They’re delicious.” She needed to stop talking…

“Ooh! Thank you, Link!” She blushed, took the apple, and batted her eyelashes at him.

Suppressing a groan, he thanked her for the information about Saria, told her to enjoy the apple, and took off at top speed toward the wall of vines that would bring him to the entrance into the Lost Woods.

At his shoulder, Navi was doing something odd. Something… “Are you laughing at me, Navi?”

“Yes, Link.”

“Hmm. Okay.” He climbed the vines quickly in case Fado had liked the apple and decided she wanted to discuss the fact with him.

The entrance was marked by the cut end of a massive hollow tree. He ran in, and because he knew the maze-like pathways by heart, headed in the general direction of where he believed the Temple to be. Never having been there, he’d been told enough about its location to have a pretty good idea which paths to take.

As he made his first turn into one of the many openings, he paused. Straight ahead was something that had always made him curious, but about which he’d been unable to do anything. An object that looked almost like a drum dangled from the branch of a long-dead tree; he’d tried hitting it with rocks, and once even used a sling-shot, but both attempts had ended in failure. In neither instance could he reach it. But now he had a fairy sling-shot that had a range far beyond that of his crude home-made versions.

“I wonder…” He went to the wooden railing at the top of what was actually a deep gully within the Woods, and stared at the so-far unreachable target.

“Link! What are you doing?”

He didn’t reply, but took out the sling-shot, armed it with a deku seed, and took careful aim.

Zing! Thwack! “Got it!” He shot at it a second time, then a third, delighted that every one of the seeds had hit dead-center.

Suddenly, a deku scrub, of all things, popped up from the stubby top of the tree’s gnarled trunk. It hopped to the end, peered down at the drum-like object, then across the space at Link, who was slack-jawed with surprise.

He’d never imagined anything was living in the old tree, much less _this_ creature! So scrubs didn’t only exist in the Great Deku Tree!

The creature was hopping up and down again. “You did it! A perfect score! That deserves a special prize, I’m thinking – don’t go away!”

 _What the heck?!_ Link stayed where he was, still too shocked to speak, and watched as the little leafy being returned to the other end of the branch.

Ploof!

Link ducked, but instead of a deku nut, the thing had shot something softer from its snout, something that sailed over the boy’s head and landed on the grass behind him. He turned, went to it, and picked it up, amazed. It was a soft leather bag which, while somewhat larger than the one in which he’d been carrying ammo for his sling-shot, was still a good size for tying onto his belt. He opened it.

“Woah! Look, Navi – way more deku seeds than I’ve been able to carry at one time before!” He looked across at the scrub. “Hey, thank you!”

The creature gave what sounded to Link like a pleased squeak, and burrowed back into the tree.

Imagine that! he thought, attaching his prize next to the smaller version. That was when he remembered something. Near the end of the ledge was an opening in the fence. A ladder had been placed there, and while Link had climbed into the gully several times in his life, he’d never found anything interesting to do there except exchange stares with a couple of bizarre individuals who seemed to live there. But now…

He headed down the ladder.

“Link! Where are you going?”

He’d been expecting her question, and almost laughed. “Down, Navi.”

“Why?”

He jumped to the ground when he’d only gotten about halfway down – the whole drop wasn’t all that far – and turned right. Another grouping of dead tree branches and stumps were sticking up from some thick green ground-cover; as soon as he climbed onto one of the stumps, two figures appeared on the branch of the larger stump facing his.

Every other time Link had encountered these two, they’d said nothing, done nothing – stood there, swaying side-to-side and staring at him. Nothing more. He’d tried talking to them, but a response had never been forthcoming. After the third time, Link had given up, deciding they were simply there to irritate anyone who came along.

This time, however, the flute-like objects tucked in their belts registered in his thinking as having major significance. Confident he was right about this, he took out the ocarina and played Zelda’s lullaby.

As soon as the notes faded, the two whatevers (they certainly weren’t Kokiri) drew out their flutes and to Link’s satisfaction and delight, one of them spoke. “Follow along with our song on your ocarina. We’ll lead you into it.” The being sounded like a boy, one who was somewhat older than Link.

Link nodded happily and put the ocarina to his lips, waiting.

The creatures played three notes in unison, repeated them, and lowered their flutes. Link played the notes back. Immediately, the one who hadn’t spoken tossed a green rupee into the grass by the foot of Link’s tree stump. The same three notes were then repeated, but a new one was added. Again, Link imitated the melody with no difficulty. Another rupee came his way. This continued until he’d played back an odd, eight-note tune and the collection of rupees included a blue and a red among the green gems.

The two players lowered their flutes, and now the other one said, “That was quite a nice session! As a token of our friendship, please take this gift!” He jumped down and came closer, laying a large heart-fruit on top of the pile of gems. Then he returned to his stump, the two beings nodded at each other, and they faded away.

Astonished but thrilled, Link climbed down and gathered his reward. Who would have guessed? He laughed, tucking everything away.

“Link!”

“I know, Navi. Let’s go.” Smiling, he climbed the ladder and headed off again, this time making a sharp right into the next hollowed-out tree section. These were what connect multiple areas of the Lost Woods, with a few exceptions. One of those was facing him when he emerged on the other end – a tall stone doorway set into the side of the grassy wall.

Link had wandered into this once, only to find his path blocked by some odd-looking plants several feet down its length. They were like flowers in the shape of large green balls, and were incredibly heavy; he’d tried picking one, of course, so he could pass, but the thing wouldn’t budge. Strong as he was for his age, he simply wasn’t strong enough.

This annoyance wasn’t in his thinking at the moment. His mind was too busy recovering from the sudden and startling reappearance of the gigantic owl. He was perched on a branch to the right of the stone door, and had leaned down to greet Link.

“Over here, young man! Hoo! Hoo!”

_As if I could have missed something your size blocking out half the sky…_

“Link! It’s good to see you again!” the owl went on in a chatty way that set the boy’s teeth on edge.

Creatures that big shouldn’t be allowed to have normal conversations with creatures so much smaller, as far as Link was concerned. Trying not to show that he was fixated on the bird’s razor-sharp beak, he acknowledged the words with a smile and a nod.

“Listen to this! Hoot! Hoot!”

 _Hoot, hoot to you, too. You sound ridiculous._ “Certainly,” he said aloud.

“After going through the Lost Woods, you will come upon the Sacred Forest Meadow.”

_Oh, great. Another meadow. Last time I was in one of those –_

“That is a secret place where few people have ever walked.”

“I’ve heard of it, but – but not, I mean, yeah. Never could find it.”

“Sshh!”

  1. “Sorry.” Link gulped. Why did he sometimes start babbling when he was afraid?



“No, I mean listen! What is that? I hear a mysterious tune…”

_A what?_

“You should listen for that tune, too! Hoo hoo ho!” He did that strange, disconcerting thing with his head again, and added, “If you are courageous, you will make it through the forest just fine.”

 _Courageous. Everyone is wondering if I’m courageous_. _Sheesh_. He wanted to point out that he’d “made it through the forest just fine” many times, but in light  of the bird’s size and obvious sense of authority, he opted for humble silence.

The owl readjusted his head. “All you have to do is follow your ears, and listen to the sounds coming from the forest! Hoot hoot!” And without further discussion, he spread his wings, pushed off from the branch, and flew away.

 _Sounds from the forest, eh? Great. What sounds_ –

“Link!”

“Navi!”

“Don’t you hear the song?”

“No. _What_ song? What are you both talking about, anyway? ‘Mysterious melodies?’ Songs? All I can hear – ”

“Is the sound of your own voice! Be quiet and listen, Link!”

He took a deep breath. “Fine.” Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the silence. After a few seconds, the silence…was no longer silent. A familiar, lively little refrain was filtering through the air, repeating after several moments. He turned and noticed that it seemed to disappear. He turned again and it got a bit louder, but not much. A third turn and now he could hear it clearly. He opened his eyes and found he was facing the opening to the right of the stone door.

“Very good, Link.” For once the fairy had said this without sounding smug. “I guess you should follow it, yes?”

He nodded and went forward, knowing that this path would lead out to the Pond. He liked swimming there once on a while, the crystal water refreshing and peaceful. Intriguing, too – at its bottom a line of gems sparkled, but he’d never been able to dive far enough to reach them. It was this small body of water that had provided Link a glimpse of how he looked, its surface like glass, able to reflect his features when the sunlight was at a certain level of brightness.

The music was coming from the tunnel-like connection to the left of the Pond, so after getting a quick scoop of the delicious, cool liquid – his encounter with the owl had left him somewhat dry-mouthed – he headed that way, wondering how much further he’d have to go. The Woods, as far as he knew, were vast. His past wanderings had been limited by an understandable concern over getting too far away and being unable to find a source of food or water sufficient to sustain him on his return journey.

Several turns and a good twenty minutes later, he found himself in a part of the Lost Woods he’d never bothered to explore, mainly because he hadn’t seen anything interesting in that  direction. But now, with the melody louder than ever, he reconsidered his former opinions and kept going.

One last turn and he stopped, surprised. A kind of field with deep grass had opened before him, and in a stone wall straight ahead was a closed gate. It consisted of eight metal shafts with sharp, spear-like tops. Curious, he headed for this to see if it was locked.

He’d taken only a few steps when he was halted by a loud animal howl on his left, and he instantly drew his Sword. It was a wolf – a large one. He’d heard of these things which he’d been told were called Wolfos, and had seen crude drawings of them, but of course had never encountered one before.

To his dismay, the creature was every bit as horrifying – and then some – as the primitive sketches. Far bigger in every way, the thing had shaggy, silver-grey fur, a long muzzle ending in a maw full of pointy fang-like teeth, and lethal claws that raked at him as he swung his weapon to fend it off.

The thing swiped at Link’s head; he raised his shield in time to avoid being decapitated, then lashed out with the Sword to take advantage of the animal’s temporary vulnerability. It howled as the blade found its mark, but only backed off for a second.

Link’s heart was pounding like crazy, his alert levels were at their highest. Because of his wounds and the subsequent euphoria following his intake of the small heart fruit, even his battle with Gohma hadn’t gotten his adrenaline flowing this fast.

The fight settled into a kind of rhythm, the Wolfos clawing at him and being fended off by the shield, Link striking back as quickly as he could after this and cutting into its body, the creature backing away, then lunging forward again for a new attack. This continued for what felt to Link like hours, but which in reality had only been a few very intense minutes. In the end, the wounds the boy inflicted took their toll. The Wolfos emitted a final yelp of agony, collapsed to its side, and Link finished it off quickly, stabbing it through the heart.

Like the Stalchildren, this creature’s body disappeared in a sudden flash of bluish light, a light that resembled a kind of broad flame. And then, as had been the pattern of things in the Great Deku Tree, the gate slid open, only this time the bars slid down into the ground since there was no ceiling into which to rise.

Link closed his eyes and waited until his heartbeat became closer to normal and he could breathe easily once more. “Okay,” he said, opening his eyes again. “Let’s go.”

On the other side of the gate the pathway traversed horizontally in front of a high, mossy stone wall. To the left, the path ended at a pool of water that was level with the ground. To the right, he could see it made a left turn at the end of the wall. Before this, he found a small alcove on his left, and would have ignored it except for something shiny gleaming at him from under the foliage growing there. He slashed through it with the Sword and found a large blue rupee. Nice.

He kept going to the end of the path and turned left.

Ploomp!

“Ouch! Hey!” A Deku Scrub, but this one was different from the others he’d encountered. The ones in the Great Deku Tree had been about his size, and dark green with brownish bodies. The one in the stump in the Lost Woods was smaller and light green, it’s body more yellowish. This thing, on the other hand, was larger, it’s covering orange and red, and it looked like a pile of autumn leaves – angry ones.

Shield up, Link stalked forward, furious. _The little creep!_ He deflected its next missile and hit the Scrub square in the face. It squealed and ran off.

“Come back here!” Link raced after it, determined to either get it to calm down or –

Ploomp!

Nope. It wasn’t going to calm down. When he cornered it at last, it continued its aggressive behavior, clearly determined to do the boy harm, so he did the only thing he could. With a yell, Link executed the downward stroke he’d learned – wow, had it only been a few days earlier? – and the Scrub exploded into a flutter of leaves and light.

In his frantic pursuit of this new enemy, Link had been forced to go through a series of turns, and realized now that he was in a kind of maze. Well, he’d be much more cautious when he turned corners from that point on. It was a good thing he’d decided this, since another of the fiery Scrubs was waiting around the next wall.

Finally, after having to swim through one of the deep pools and fight of several more Scrubs, he found a stairway built into a slope that ran between precisely-cut stone walls. At the top of this was another path and two more Scrubs.

Now that he’d had more practice fighting their kind, he was able to dispatch them without getting injured, and once they were gone, he made it unchallenged to the next set of stairs. Before going up, he ate one of the heart fruits to take care of the few minor wounds he’d gotten from the deku nuts he’d been unable to avoid.

“Any idea what’s up there, Navi?”

“I hear the song even more loudly there, Link.”

She hadn’t answered his question, but nothing in her tone suggested there was a problem, so he continued up the steps. When he got to the top he stopped and stared – no question. This was the Sacred Meadow, the half-crumbled ruin of a once-magnificent temple at its far end pretty much confirming this.

And near the Temple, sitting on an old tree stump and playing her tune on her ocarina, sat Saria.


	11. Chapter 11

Between where he stood and Saria was a huge, flat, circular stone on which had been etched and painted the Triforce symbol. He skirted this and went to her slowly, not wanting to disturb her playing.

The ocarina she had was almost identical to the one she’d given him, and he wondered where she got it. And then he recalled that she’d told Frega she was going to buy one from him “some day” with the rupee she’d won. He supposed that giving him her old one had made “some day” come a lot sooner.

He stopped a few feet away, watching her play, impressed with how quickly her fingers fluttered over the instrument. She stopped a moment later, brought it down to her lap, and smiled.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Link.”

“How did you know I’d be back so soon?”

She shrugged. “I…know things, is all. Not that I could really explain that.” She giggled. “So – this is the Sacred Forest Meadow, my secret place that I told you about.”

Link raised an eyebrow. “If it’s your secret, why would you tell me about it, much less lead me here?” He had no doubt that her music had been meant to do exactly that, and had to admit she would have needed to employ magic of some sort to make it audible throughout the Lost Woods. Three days ago, he would have scoffed at such a possibility. Not now.

“Why?” She waved a hand at the temple behind them. “This place – this place will be important for us both some day. That’s what I feel, anyhow.”

Ah. “Some day” again. He sincerely hoped this one wouldn’t happen as quickly as the other. The temple, for all it’s having fallen into ruin, was intimidating. As for the fat, flaming Deku Scrubs, that Wolfos, and who knew what else…

“You look confused,” she added. “I don’t really know how or why I know some of the things I do, or how I’m able to do certain things, but when the time is right, I’m sure I will. In the meantime, I follow what my heart and senses tell me.”

“And what are they telling you?”

She grinned. “They’re telling me you’ve learned to play that ocarina I gave you.”

_That_ startled him. Was she guessing, or did she honestly know somehow?

“I’m right!”

Link had never been good at hiding his expressions. “I’ve, um, figured out a few things on it. I’m nowhere near as good as you, though.”

She blushed, the pink of her cheeks making a pleasant contrast with her green hair. “Thank you, Link. All right, here’s what else my heart and senses are telling me – you should play the ocarina with me so I can teach you to talk with the spirits in the forest. What do you think?”

_Why would I want to talk with forest spirits?_ “Are they anything like ghosts?”

She gave him an odd look. “How would you know about ghosts? Oh! You met some when you were gone, yes?”

Reluctant, he nodded. “Two. They were a little insane, I think.” And deadly with a lantern.

“Oh, my! Well, no, forest spirits aren’t the same at all. In fact, if you’re from here and you’re a good person, they’re extremely kind and helpful. So…will you play along with me on the ocarina?”

How could he disappoint her? She looked so hopeful… “Sure.”

“Great! Now, listen carefully and try to follow along with the melody. Are you ready?”

In reply, he took out the ocarina and held it to his lips.

The tune was the same that she’d always played and that had drawn him to this place, to her. She played it slowly at first so he could repeat it with ease, and once he had it, they both played at a much quicker pace. He found himself able to keep up, and grinned hugely at her when they finished.

“Great, Link! Great! I knew you had music in you!”

Was _that_ what it was? Well, it certainly explained his long-standing desire to learn to play. “That was fun – it…it felt really good to play like that, too.”

“I know what you mean. Now promise me you won’t forget that song, and here’s why. After this, you’ll be leaving the Forest again, won’t you. And there will be times when you might need help or advice or some such. When that happens, if you play that song, you’ll be able to talk with me!”

“How?”

“I’m not certain – it’s another one of those things I just know. Guess we’ll both find out, yes?”

He nodded and looked with renewed respect at the ocarina. “Wow.”

Saria giggled again, raised her ocarina, and went back to her playing. At first, Link found this a rather abrupt way to say good-bye, but then he remembered his own retreat across the bridge a few days earlier. Saria had figured out that he wasn’t good at farewells, he surmised, and was giving him the chance to leave with his dignity intact.

She was, indeed, a good friend. He whispered “good-bye” and turned away, but not before catching a glimpse of the smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes.

Not sure what to do next – other than climb that stupid mountain, an action he was still trying to pretend wasn’t necessary – he headed back down the double flight of stairs. When he got to the bottom he noticed something he’d missed on his way up, probably because he’d had his back to it.

A ladder. It led up the side of the wall facing the stairs. “Are there any enemies up there, Navi?” he asked, his voice low.

She zoomed up and over the top, returning a few seconds later. “Nope.”

Making sure his things were properly secured, he climbed the ladder, only to find a hole in the ground with another ladder leading into it. This wasn’t very deep, so he didn’t bother with this second ladder, but jumped in, landing lightly on his feet. In the center of this hole was another hole. A deeper one. In fact, it looked similar to the ones in the graveyard.

“Er, Navi? What’s down there?”

“Jump in and find out, Link!”

_Sure. And if I land on a bunch of sharp sticks or into a nest of rabid deku scrubs, so what, right?_ “Jump in, you say.”

“Yes. Jump in.”

Awesome. He jumped in.

At the bottom, he was facing a tunnel that glowed blue at its end. The closer he got, the nicer it smelled. This was good. And then he saw something pink – a lot of pink somethings, in fact, and when he emerged from the tunnel, he entered what looked like a circular underground stone gazebo. It had slender double pillars spaced widely apart that held up a carved stone roof. The floor was made of small tiles that sat under clear blue water. A single step led into this, and when he entered, he discovered it wasn’t deep, the water only reaching his shins.

“What is this place?” he wondered aloud, staring around at the pink objects flying and flitting about overhead.

“It’s a Fairy Fountain.”

“A what?”

“A Fairy Fountain. They’re good fairies, Link, and will heal and restore you if you’re hurt.”

“Huh.”

Just then, two of the itty-bitty creatures flew down for a closer look, or so it seemed. They circled him quickly, zooming around his body too fast for him to note any details. As they flew, they left a trail of dazzling sparkles in their wake, some of which brushed the boy’s face. It felt like the hand of Life itself had touched his skin and he sighed. What a wonderful place!

The fairies suddenly shot upward, and the rest ignored him after that.

“You aren’t in need of their help right now,” Navi told him. “Hey, let’s go – we have to get to Death Mountain!”

He winced. In this place, speaking the mountain’s name almost felt sacrilegious. He turned and left the water, heading back into the tunnel with obvious reluctance. For once, he didn’t mind being a little wet.

Like the holes in the graveyard, this one had a small platform directly under the opening, and with the same seamless spatial shift, he found himself back on the surface. He climbed the short ladder and gazed around to get his bearings. If he wasn’t totally mistaken, he’d be able to run across this upper level to return to the entrance of the area, and get back into the pathways of the Lost Woods.

Looking at it that way proved deceptive. The ground wasn’t a solid stretch as he’d first imagined. He found himself needing to jump over several gaps before reaching the end, but fortunately, he’d seen the first one early enough to avoid falling into it.

Once at the entrance, he looked around quickly, hoping no more Wolfos would show up. To his relief, all remained quiet, so he headed out…

“Hoot! Hoot!”

“Ack!” A really strong desire to zap the owl with a deku seed shook Link to his core. Not that he hated the massive bird or anything, but this habit of showing up out of nowhere and startling the daylights out of the boy was getting to him in a big way.

Apparently, the owl had no clue that he was being irritating, sounding more like they’d arranged to meet when Link left the Meadow. “Did you learn an ocarina song from Saria?”

A suspicion grew in the boy’s mind that this owl was following him around. “Yes.”

The owl shook his feathers as if getting comfortable. “That melody seems to have some mysterious power. In fact, there may be some other mysterious songs like this that you can learn in Hyrule.”

Mysterious. Was that everyone’s favorite word? Impa had used it to describe the lullaby. “I did learn one from Zelda’s personal guard.”

“Yes, the lullaby. Good. Well! Hoot hoot hoot hoot hoo!” And he flew away.

“Yeah, see you later,” Link murmured. “Have a great day.”

“Are you being sarcastic, Link?”

He sighed. “Yes, Navi.”

“I see. We have to go now.”

“I suppose we do.”

“Are you afraid?”

“Yes, Navi, but don’t ask me why.”

“Maybe because you’re still only ten years old.” She sounded almost upset, but in a motherly kind of way.

“Maybe.” He wasn’t sure he understood the point she was making, unless all ten-year-olds were naturally frightened by big things. Like mountains. Or things that had the word “death” in them.

The exit from the Woods was easy enough to find. In fact, if he turned a certain way in one of the hubs between paths, he’d find himself back in the Village. Only he wasn’t looking to leave yet. He’d remembered another individual, one not unlike the two flute players. This person also had a flute, but looked younger, and quite frankly, lonely.

Every Kokiri in the Village had not only met this strange boy, but had talked about him in less than glowing terms. He was, in fact, disliked more than Link was, but everyone seemed a little afraid of him. They called him the Skull Kid, but no one ever said why or where that description had come from.

He looked to Link like a rag doll. His face didn’t have skin but some kind of dark, uneven covering. His eyes, too, were not like anyone else’s and almost didn’t look real; still, that fact hadn’t hidden the sadness Link saw there every time he’d encountered him.

Once or twice Link had tried to strike up a conversation, but instead of a verbal response, things had been thrown at him, or zinged at his head from a sling-shot. What would happen if instead of talking, Link played the ocarina? Not that winning the Skull Kid’s confidence had always been at the top of his list of things to do, but it had been on his list somewhere. Maybe because he knew what it felt like to be lonely, sad, and disliked.

A little more walking brought him to one of the many open areas within the Woods that seemed to have no purpose. A single dead tree stump stood near the middle, and little else. Yet here it was that the Skull Kid seemed to spend his days. Link entered the area with caution, not sure if the boy would immediately start throwing things, or wait until he tried to talk to him.

There he was, standing on the stump, hopping from foot to foot in a kind of dance, as if moving to music only he could hear.

Link stopped several yards in front of him and took out his ocarina. Without hesitation – and because he thought it would be a good idea to play it again so he wouldn’t forget how it went – he began Saria’s lively song.

The Skull Kid stopped hopping long enough to stare in what looked like shock, then began dancing again, this time to the song. Before Link had gotten to the repeated part, the other boy took out his flute and began playing along.

When he was finished, Link lowered the ocarina and waited.

The boy jumped up and down with excitement, exclaiming, “You know Saria’s song! That – oh, my! That means…we should be friends! Here – take this!” He tossed something toward Link, but this time, it was a good thing – one of the large heart-fruits.

Link leaped forward in time to catch it before it hit the ground. “Thank you!”

The Skull Kid shrugged and went back to his bizarre, silent dance as if nothing unusual had occurred. Link knew otherwise – he’d caught a gleam of something _not_ sad in the boy’s eyes, and knew he’d done the right thing.

As they left the area, Navi whispered, “That was very good of you, Link.”

“Thank you.” He blushed, embarrassed by the praise. He wasn’t used to it. In fact, he was so flustered, he didn’t pay attention to where he was going, and found himself in a part of the Woods he almost never bothered to go.

The ground through this opening ended at a ledge that looked out over the wooden bridge leading out of the Kokiri Forest – the one across which he’d fled a few days earlier. The drop to the ground below was only a few feet; he’d gone down there once, but a tingling of his senses that had caused the hair on the back of his neck to rise had sent him scrambling back up the ladder before he could explore the place. He had never returned, either.

Now, however, he’d fought and defeated Gohma, and a Wolfos, several chubby deku scrubs, living skeletons…what could possibly be down here that he couldn’t handle? Feeling brave, he hopped down and went forward, crossing under the bridge and up a slight rise in the ground. He topped this and turned –

Ploomp!

“Ouch!”

Ploomp! Thunk! Squeak!

Crazy Deku Scrub, Link thought, watching it carefully. This one didn’t try hopping away, and was quite a bit taller than any other Scrub he’d seen. Sword out, the boy stepped closer.

“I surrender!” it declared, raising twig-like arms. “I can make your quest easier!”

How did this thing know he was on a quest? “How?”

“Why, by making it possible for you to pick up larger numbers of deku sticks at a time!”

That sounded pretty good. “You can do that?”

“Yes, but it will cost you, of course.”

“What? How much?”

“Only forty rupees, my friend.”

“Okay, let me see if I understand what’s going on here.” Link crossed his arms. “People come down here out of curiosity. You shoot them. If they don’t get hurt or killed, and manage to hit you back, you do business with them. Do I have that right?”

“Pretty much, young sir!”

Link nodded. “You’re crazy. Still, I could probably use more sticks…” He reached into his gem pouch which was bulging by now, and took out the correct number of blue and red rupees to equal forty. “Here.”

Looking pleased, the Scrub took the rupees, then told Link to turn around. He did something with the boy’s scabbard and it became somewhat heavier.

“There you go – I’ve given you forty to start you off, and now your holder there can carry up to that many and still have room for your sword! By the way, is that the Kokiri Sword?”

“Um, yes.”

“Really! Now what would such a little boy be doing with something so grand, eh? But no matter – off you go! It was a pleasure doing business with you!” He nodded once and burrowed into the ground.

Link stared for several seconds at where the Scrub had been, then took a deep breath. “Right!” He had to adjust the scabbard by shifting his shoulders, but it occurred to him that having to carry more weight would probably make him stronger. “Let’s go, Navi. I’m tired and plan to get a bite to eat and some sleep before we head back to the mountain.”

“So you’re finally going there, are you?”

“Yes, Navi. I do believe I’m ready to try it.” He started walking toward the ladder, his expression one of determination, even though a small part of his mind was pushing for the Run Away As Far And Fast As You Can option. He was going to do this.

Besides, he had a feeling that if he did try and run away from it, that stupid owl would show up again…


	12. Chapter 12

By the time Link entered Kakariko Village for the second time, it was night. He’d overslept, and hadn’t left his own village until well past noon. Then, taking his time, he’d crossed Hyrule Field, gone over the small stone bridge, sat on the edge of the river-moat to have a quick meal, and before he could make it halfway up the long stairway, the sun had gone down. He’d managed to avoid running into any Stalchildren this time, but didn’t want to take any chances, so had run the last few yards to the gate.

Now, staring about at the silent village, he wondered if heading up the mountain at night was such a hot idea. Besides, there had been a few things he’d wanted to check out in the village itself that he’d never gotten around to the last time.

As he walked forward, he thought about the way he’d been able to “fly” holding onto the legs of the cuckoo. That would have been a fun pursuit, but there were none to be seen at this hour. Then he thought about the Graveyard. Was it too early again to go on that tour?

“Link!”

_Oh, good grief_. “What is it, Navi?”

“Where are you going?”

“The Graveyard.”

“Why?”

He shrugged, not bothering to answer. When he got to the entrance, he paused to cut some grass, thinking he should replenish some of the rupees he’d spent on his new deku-stick holder. When he’d undressed the night before, he’d seen what the Scrub had done – another sheath had been attached to the one containing the Sword, the two connected by small metal circles.

No rupees bounced out of the cut shafts. Something else though – bugs. He was okay with bugs. Spiders, not so much. He crouched down to look at them more closely. They were actually rather pretty, their chitinous shells an interesting combination of luminous blue and green stripes.

“Catch some in a bottle, Link.”

Was she serious? “Why would I do that?”

“You might need them.”

Navi’s statements, despite being often cryptic, were always based on some kind of knowledge of things unfamiliar to Link, so he untied the empty bottle from his belt and coaxed several of the bugs inside, replacing the cap quickly and tying it down so they couldn’t escape.

He stood and headed into the Graveyard, determined this time to stay out of holes. The place was quiet and devoid of gravekeepers as far as he could see, so he went to Dampe’s shack. Sure enough, the sign was up indicating the hours of the tour, and making it clear that this wasn’t the right time.

“Dang.” Disappointed, Link stalked off, this time heading for the area on the other side of some metal railing to see what was up there.

“Look at this, Link!” The fairy was fluttering over a bald patch of dirt.

“Okay.” He joined her and stared at it. “That’s dirt, Navi.”

“But it’s different – very soft.”

How would she know? Had she landed on it when he wasn’t looking? “Is that important?”

“Listen! I hear scratching!”

He looked around.

“No, under the ground!”

A Stalchild, maybe? He backed away.

“Oh, Link! Let the bugs out!”

_Now_ what was she on about? “I just caught them, Navi. You said – ”

“Let them out on the dirt!”

Wondering if maybe the poor fairy had flown into a wall and hit her little head, he shook his own, crouched down once more, and undid the cap. The bugs scurried out, skittering here and there, finally burrowing into the center of the patch.

“Back up, Link! Quick!”

He did , and not a moment too soon. A huge Gold Skulltula emerged from the patch, coming to a halt mere fractions of an inch from his right boot. Shocked, he hacked at it, and after its implosion, collected the medallion.

“How did you know about that?”

“I know a lot of things, Link. You have to trust me more.”

He nodded. She was, after all, a fairy, and had probably been around a lot longer than he had, or at least been to more places. “Okay.”

“There’s nothing more to do here, Link. We should go.”

He agreed. Since the tour wasn’t going to happen, he couldn’t see any other reason for hanging around a place that had lantern-swinging ghosts and dead things. As they left, he cut some more grass for the heck of it, and this time was rewarded with both a green rupee and more bugs. He scooped up the latter, tucked the former into his gem pouch, and went back out into the Village.

The pen that held Anju’s cuckoos was empty – they were probably inside the barn-like structure behind it – so he wandered past, this time ignoring the short staircase on his right. He’d seen something glittering on the side of the large house directly beyond the stairs, one of the few with a fenced-in yard. When he got closer, he saw it was another Gold ’tulla. Interesting. He whacked at it, and collected yet another medallion. How many was that now? Seven? It was a good thing they weighed almost nothing and took up very little space.

“Did you see that watchtower, Link?”

He frowned. What was a watchtower? He came out from behind the house and looked around the deserted Village. The windmill was turning in a soft breeze, but what – aha! “You mean that tall thing over there?”

“Yes, Link!”

“Okay, what about it?”

“You should climb it and take a look around!”

A few minute later he was standing at its base, staring up at the source of some familiar scratching. So. That was why Navi had told him to come here – not necessarily to do some sight-seeing, but to obtain another medallion. Very well. He took out the sling-shot, hit the creature twice, then climbed up and got the shiny disc.

“Are there more around her?” he asked before she could start telling to him to check out some local site.

“Up there, Link!” She flew away from him toward a lane that ran between buildings. One, he knew, that ended at the gate leading to the path up the mountain.

“Are you trying to get me up the mountain by following a trail of ’tullas, Navi? I mean, I know where it is.”

“No, Link. I’m trying to help you find medallions so you can help a family here in the Village, and get wonderful rewards for it!”

That confused him so much, he didn’t even try to ask what she meant. “Sure. Where next?”

This time, she brought him to the back of one of the buildings on the left side of the lane, where he found another Gold ‘tulla scratching around on the outside wall under a window. He defeated it easily, tucked the medallion away with the rest, and asked Navi where the next one was.

He didn’t like the answer.

Crashing into trees was, in his opinion, the dumbest thing he’d ever been told to do, but it did get him a tenth medallion. “Now what?” he grumped, rubbing the side of his head.

“Go into the large house up there!”

He thrust out his jaw as he considered stuffing Navi into the bag with the medallions. “It’s late. They’re probably asleep.”

“Not in _that_ house.”

He wasn’t sure he liked the way she’d said that, or even what it seemed to imply. “Oh?”

“Link!”

“Navi!”

“Go!”

“Fine!” He trudged off, unhappy, but willing to do her bidding for the time being. If he got in huge trouble for barging into someone’s home in the middle of the night, so be it, but he’d never again do as the fairy told him without some major discussion first.

The house was dusty inside, its corners shrouded in cobwebs, the furniture in a shocking state of neglect. In fact, there wasn’t much furniture at all, just a sagging sofa against the wall in the entryway (and what was a sofa doing there anyway?), and a few chairs and tables in various stages of disrepair positioned in no logical order around the massive main room.

Light came from a scattering of candles, but they were few and cast more shadows than illumination. Link headed for the center of the room, not sure what he was looking for, or even doing there in the first place.

A second later, he leaped back with a yell of surprise as something dropped from the ceiling to dangle at him, mere inches from the floor. It was, well, it looked like a spider, but it had a man’s face, a combination Link found more horrifying by the moment.

It spoke, and Link nearly passed out. “Good evening, young man!”

_What? What? Where’s the exit? Holy_ …

“Welcome to my home!”

Link gulped, took several deep breaths, and did his best to recover enough to be polite. After all, the grotesque creature had somehow sounded reasonable, almost normal. “Um…er, I mean, well…thank you.”

“Oh, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, ‘Why does he look like that?’ It’s a sad story, really.”

Link stared.

“Yes. Well. You see, my sons and I are cursed. We, er, okay, we were very greedy people. So the Spider of the Curse…cursed us. He sent his little minions out into the world and said our only hope lay in their demise, knowing full well _we_ could never leave the house to destroy them.”

“Oh.”

“ _Someone_ has been killing them, though, because as you can see, I’ve gotten my face back, and one of my sons has returned to normal!”

“He has?”

“Yes – look!”

Link peered past the dangling man-spider and into the gloomy recess of the room. Something was there all right. Or someone. Whatever or whoever it was looked like he was doing some kind of exercise, jumping and waving his arms around. Very strange. “When a person kills one of these Spiders of the Curse, what happens?”

“Why, the creature folds in on itself and becomes a lovely gold medallion! Oh, sorry. There goes my greed again. I suppose there’s nothing lovely about a dead spider. Still, gold…”

“Wait – you’re talking about Gold Skulltulas, right?”

“Ha! Yes! That’s the other name for them! Why? Have _you_ killed one?”

“Ten, actually.”

“Oh, my dear, dear boy! It was _you_ , then! How can I thank you?”

“First, why do they turn into medallions?” He’d been meaning to ask Navi this, but kept forgetting, what with everything else that was always going on when he encountered one.

“So there would be proof, of course! And so a count could be kept. You see, once all of them have been taken out of the world, our curse will be completely broken. Their King arranged for their existence solely for that purpose.”

“Nice.” He was being sarcastic again, this time to keep himself from considering what such a king would look like.

“So here’s what I propose – you keep on killing those nasty rascals, and we’ll make you rich beyond your wildest dreams!”

Link gave him a crazy look. What kind of person would have wild dreams about being rich? Not him, that was for sure. All he’d ever wanted was to have a good life and be accepted by others. Before he could reply, the dangling homeowner spoke again.

“What’s your name, boy?”

“Link.”

“Link! Aha. Well, why don’t you go speak to my son. He’ll give you a reward for freeing him from the curse and tell you how many more medallions you’ll need to free the next brother. Er, that is, if you want to.”

“Okay.” That word didn’t necessarily mean okay, that he’d try and kill every freaking Gold Skulltula in the world, or that he’d go talk to the freed brother. He was simply agreeing in general with no commitment either way.

“Thank you, Link! Thank you!”

“Sure.” He wandered off, still not sure what he wanted to do.

“Link!”

“Navi!”

“Go talk to his son!”

“Fine.” He went to the corner of the room where he’d seen what had appeared to be a person flapping his arms.

“I heard what you said to my father!” exclaimed young man who was, in fact, flapping his arms, highly excited. “I’m free! And you did it! Thank you! Here!” He reached back and took something from the table behind him. “This wallet can hold two hundred rupees, and as you’ll see, I’ve already filled it for you! Now please – help my brothers. You’ll need more than ten medallions, I’m afraid, to break the curse for the next one. Twenty, in fact. Good luck to you, my friend!”

After wondering when the man had been able to fill the pouch with all that flapping going on, nLink gave him what amounted to a manic smile, took a step back as he tied the heavy pouch to his belt, and took off for the door.

Back outside, he gave his head a quick shake, still somewhat horrified by what had just happened.

“Are you all right, Link?”

“No, but that’s okay. I’ll get over it. Navi, what in the world am I going to do with so many rupees?”

“You may need lots of them later, you know.”

_No, I don’t know_ , he thought at her. “Okay.”

They were silent now, both aware of what Link’s next move should be. Death Mountain blocked out the sky to Link’s left. The whole idea of a mountain to someone who’d only ever known forest and relatively flat land was more than a little daunting, never mind the possibilities of what he might find.

“I don’t want to go there in the dark.” He knew he didn’t have to elaborate on what he meant by “there.”

“You could play the Sun Song.”

“Yes, I could.” He nodded and began walking down the stairs. “I should.”

Navi said nothing.

“They have an awful lot of staircases in this village.”

Navi remained silent.

“So this way, then.” He headed up another flight of steps. He’d also been up here during his search for Anju’s birds and his earlier search for ’tulas, and knew there was yet another short stairway beyond the buildings on this level.

He finally reached the last stretch of ground before the gate blocking the path to the mountain pass. Looking resigned, he took out his ocarina and played the Sun Song. In a dizzying display of light and dark, the moon set and the sun rose in the space of perhaps a half-second, causing Link to almost lose his balance. The other time he’d done this, the reaction hadn’t been nearly as extreme, and he hoped it wouldn’t get progressively worse every time. But for now, that was as bad as it got, and it was early morning.

A guard was standing by the gate, looking like nothing unusual had occurred. Yet it had, only it seemed Link and Navi were the sole witnesses to the sudden time shift. The boy was in awe over the power of the music, and finally understood why everyone was using the term “mysterious” to describe it. How it could do such a thing was certainly a mystery to _him_ and would most likely continue to be.

“We really should go now, Link.”

He nodded. Tucking the ocarina away, walked boldly to the guard.


End file.
